It ain't over till it's over
by CercandoUnaVoce
Summary: After spending a whole week running after bad guys in Western Africa, Bravo Team is now eager to go back home. But when the piece of hardware they call their ride starts making strange noises, they immediately acknowledge their goal is far from being reached.
1. 1 Jungle sweet jungle

"TOC, Bravo One here, mission accomplished," Jason communicates with the base. "Ready for exfil."

"Copy that." Blackburn's voice came from the radio. "Your ride will be there in ten. TOC out."

"Alright guys, heard that? Pack up," Jason ordered his teammates. "Let's leave this mess behind."

"You don't have to say it twice, Boss," Sonny said, immediately starting to collect their equipment.

Exhausted and sweaty Bravo Team promptly settled in the chopper. The back was a little crowded, the only one really comfortable was Jason, sat in the front.

"Hey Brock, would you please keep Cerberus away from my personal space?" Ray said, sticking out the side of the chopper. "His smell is really starting to bother me."

"I can try, but I'm afraid it's not just the dog's fault here." He chuckled, seeing Ray that annoyed.

"And let's thank God we didn't manage to take prisoners," Trent pointed out, with a little frustration shining thought his voice.

Ray shuddered at the thought of dividing the already limited space with those terrorists, and found himself in the desperate need of a deep breath of fresh air.

"I'm telling you one thing guys," Sonny said with a grin. "If the support personnel finished all the beers during these eight days of our absence, I'm going to give someone a hell of a flight home."

"Let's pray not then," Clay said. "We're already tired of hearing your voice complaining about everything."

"That's easy for you to say, little blonde monkey," Sonny quickly replied. "You know that some of us happened to grow up in the civilized world, right?"

They all laughed at the sound of the two making fun of each other.  
After all, they already knew that with the two of them packed together, side by side, for a ride that long, the show was ready to happen.

...

The chopper was midway to the base, when things started going rough.

"You heard that?" Ray asked concerned.

"It's just the normal sound of this old ladybird," Trent's tone didn't sound too secure.

They heard another clanging.

"You think?" Sonny turned back, starting to worry.

Clay was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't even notice the commotion around him.  
The astonishing view of the palace that he once used to call his home, completely blessed him, leaving him overwhelmed with memories filling his mind and his heart.

 _Six years old Clay was quietly set on the small plane, staring at the already consumed photo he tightened among his little hands._

 _His grandparents were really surprised a boy that young could face a trip so long without giving them any kind of trouble._

 _"Came here baby," his grandmother said, carefully loosen his strap._

 _She took Clay in her arms, "Look," she softly said, pointing at the tiny window._

 _"Isn't it the most amazing thing you ever saw?" she whispered, kindly removing his hair off his forehead._

 _The boy stood silent, his eyes were full of amazement as well as filled of fear and uncertainty._

 _"This is far from the concrete jungle we have back in the US, uh? This...is the real stuff!"_

 _Clay insisted to be put back in his seat._

 _"It's ok, we're almost there." She put his strap firmly on again. "This will be your new home."_

 _"I don't want a new home...I just want my mom..." his eyes were filled with tears, but for no reasons he was going to let them wet his cheeks._

 _"Oh, sweetheart, you're gonna love here, I promise." She smiled with a kindness that made him feel everything was going to be ok._

"What the..." Clay was abruptly awakened from his daydream as the chopper became unstable, and they had to grab strong to some support to not be thrown off it.

"May-day. May-day," the pilot said, as he saw a rotor catching fire.

He tried to stabilize the chopper, but it quickly started to lose altitude, and they went down, starting hitting the vegetation.

It started to flip around, and the men on the edges had a really hard time to stay on board.

Sonny tried to grab Clay as he was slipping out. They all tried to hold on, but the crash was now inevitable.

The tail went in pieces, and controlling the chopper was now impossible.

"May-day, we are going down!" Support personnel at TOC started to get nervous.

It all happened so fast that they barely had the time to acknowledge the situation.

"Bravo One, this is TOC, what happened?" Blackburn tried to maintain the comms open.

"What the hell?" Davis' voice was full of fear.

"Any Bravo team, respond!" he tried again, unsuccessfully.

"Air space is supposed to be clear, what could have happened?" she asked confused.

"We have no evidence of hostiles in that zone," the commander continued.  
"Davis, find their last known position, we have to arrange a rescue mission," he ordered.

The atmosphere at the base changed in a blink. Everyone was now trying to make themselves useful.

"C'mon, we have to find them now!" Blackburn yelled.

...

Jason slightly opened his eyes. Disoriented, and with blurred vision, he tried to recall what happened.  
He blinked, trying to focus. 'Mission accomplished; on the way back home; chopper crashed,' he resumed the situation in his mind.

As soon as he was able to concentrate, he turned to his left, and checked on the pilot's condition.

"Damn it," he muttered, not feeling any pulse.

He started looking for his men.

"Hey," Jason tried to call out to Brock, the only one in his immediate sight.  
He was hugged to Cerberus, and hasn't yet regained consciousness.

He painfully got up to reach him, and he heard him moaning.  
Relieved his teammate was still alive, he quickly valued the situation. The main part of the chopper held the fall, but there were pieces of the tail and the rotors everywhere.

"Boss!" Trent was a few meters away, heading toward them.

"Boss, you alright?" He asked, trying to check on him.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Jason carefully avoided mentioning the ringing in his ears. "You?"

"I'll be good," Trent nodded, so they turned to Brock.

"Ugh... I'm good," he said, lifting his head up. "He seems fine too," he added, meticulously checking the dog.

"Pilot's dead..." Jason paused.  
"Where're the others?" he said, desperately looking around, then he turned to Trent, "Did you see them?"

He shook his head, "I ran toward you as soon as I woke up...didn't see anyone."

Mangroves and giant trees prevented them to see far from their position.

"They must drop down the chopper before the crash."

"TOC, this is Bravo One, anyone there?" Jason tried a couple times.

"Any Bravo Team, this is Bravo One, do you copy?" he harshly continued.

"Vegetation must be shielding the signal, Boss," Trent pointed out helpless. "We know too well how things work here..."

"And the GPS is going sideways, even if we can contact them, we don't know where we are."

Brock instructed the dog to search for their teammates, and he immediately started to follow a lead.

"Ray!" "Sonny!" "Clay!" they started calling out in plain voice, searching the surroundings.

Jason had difficulties standing straight, and he had to lean on Trent.

"Who... Ok boss, maybe you shouldn't get up that fast..." he tried to object.

"I'm fine. I have to find my men," Jason argued, freeing himself from his teammate's support.

"Cerb found something," Brock yelled, running after the dog.

"Hey, Sonny!" he said, approaching his friend. "You ok, man?"

"Mmmm... I'm never ok in the jungle," he replied, hastily looking around.

Trent tried to help him stand up, but Sonny growled in pain.

"You must dislocated your shoulder," Trent instantaneously judged.

"Yeah, feels like that," Sonny admitted annoyed.

"I got this," Trent said, and without hesitation he grabbed Sonny's arm, and put a foot on his friend's hip for leverage.  
"This is gonna hurt, you ready?"

"Go ahe... Ohw!" Sonny couldn't finish his phrase, that Trent put his shoulder back in position, making a loud 'snap' in the process.

He took a deep breath. "Is anybody else hurt?"

"Pilot's dead..."

"Oh man," Sonny reacted, having some problems standing straight.

"Ray and Spenser are missing."

"Missing? What are we doing here? Let's go find them!"

"Wait! You two should wait near the chopper, and rest," Trent said firmly. "Cerberus will lead me and Brock to our guys."

Jason not liked the idea, but he knew his teammate was right, they could only get in the way in their current condition.

"Ok," he looked straight at the others. He knew that the forest should be cleared by the hostiles, but, like Sonny never stopped pointing out, wild animals and venomous plant were still a threat.

"Be careful!"

Trent and Brock looked straight at their boss, and nodded.

...

Ray regained consciousness, finding himself surrounded by the dense vegetation.  
He got up with every fiber of his body aching.

"Alright Raymond, you can do this," he said to himself.

Seeing no one there, he reached his radio to ask for his teammates positions, "Useless" he muttered, as he found it badly damaged.

He inspected the surroundings, and spotted some metal fragments. When he reached them, he took a while to recognize Clay's motionless body between the chopper's rests.

 _The soft light penetrating through the trees woke Clay from his forced sleep. The sweet, humid air quickly filled his lungs, and the sound of birds and mammals leaving their life surrounded him._

 _He looked around, his view was prejudiced by enormous trees, and big leaves. He closed his eyes, and tried to hear something, while the sound of children laughing filled the air._

 _Suddenly a local boy appeared from the vegetation, "Nooma nte, nooma!"_

 _"Follow you where? Clay asked, confused. "Where are we? Where're we going?"_

 _"Nooma nte, tubaboo." the kid disappeared in the jungle._

 _"Batu! Batu!" he tried to go after him, but he immediately lost him. "Wait for me, kid..."_

 _"Let him go," a familiar voice sounded from behind him._

 _"Brian?" he looked back surprised. "What are you doing here?"_

 _"You saw where I grow up, it felt right to do the same for you." Brian smiled._

 _"Yeah...ok," he looked around more and more disoriented. "I have to find my team..."_

 _"Relax, they will find you." Brian voice was getting more and more distant. "Trust them, they are your family..."_

 _"Don't leave me alone, wait!"_

"Spenser!" Ray jumped into the swamp the kid was partially immersed in, and started checking on his conditions: he had one rotor blade stuck in his right side, and the rest of his body was tangled in the mangroves.

"Mmm...Where did he go? What..." Clay tried to move.

"Woo... Hold still kid." Ray put firmly a hand on his teammate's shoulder. "You are gonna worst your situation here."

"Ray?" Clay slowly opened his eyes, trying to understand his current situation.

"Yes, Spens. It's me," he tried to act calm and reassuring. "Hold on kid, you are stuck, but I'm gonna take you out of here, ok?"

"Mmm..." Clay nodded, trying to recall what happened.  
"Where're...the others?" He tried to look around, but Ray held his head still.

"Don't know kid," Ray said, trying to figure out a plan to free his friend.  
"I haven't seen anyone, nor the main part of the chopper round here." He couldn't hide his concern anymore, "and my radio is out of order."

"Try with mine..." Clay said, instinctively trying to reach it, but a sharp pain invaded his body. "Ahg..."

"I told you to hold still! And that's an order, ok?" Ray carefully removed the radio from Clay's chest, and tried to contact the rest of the team.

"This is Bravo Two, anyone out there?" he tried.  
"This is Bravo Two and Six, anyone copy?" he persistently repeated.

"Bravo Two, thank God," Jason answered, surprised that the radio were working again. "Are you good?"

"I'm in one piece... but the kid," he paused, looking at him. "Spenser's stuck and injured."

"How bad?" Every possible outcome popped up in Jason's mind, making him feel chills in every inch of his body.

"Don't really know Boss, but I can't move him.  
"Is everyone else ok?"

"A little beat up, but nothing we can't handle," Jason replied, looking at Sonny. "We'll be good." the latter nodded.

"Don't worry. Cerb is leading us to you." Trent stepped into the conversation. "Just hold...until we get...ok?" he managed to say between one interference and another.

"Copy that. Two out." Ray turned to Clay. "You heard that? They're coming for us."

"Yeah, " he nodded, feeling relieved.  
"Oh man, Sonny is gonna mock me for life for this." He abandoned his head leaning on the mangroves.

"I hate to agree with him, but," Ray smiled. "I'm afraid he will have a really good point this time."

Despite Clay's efforts to hide his pain, Ray could clearly see how much the kid was suffering.  
He was losing blood, and his skin was turning more and more pale.  
Ray felt powerless and useless, but he knew he needed to focus on keeping Clay calm, and preventing the shock to kick in.  
There was absolutely nothing more he could do for the moment.


	2. 2 Sonny was right

Jason was getting seriously anxious: with the radio constantly failing, there was no way to keep track of his teammates, and make sure they were alright.

"C'mon, let me know something..." Jason started randomly moving around.

"Boss, no one is more eager than me about getting out of here, you know that," Sonny interrupted Jason's thoughts. "But you are making me sick, walking round like that," he said, covering up his concern for his boss' safety.

"I can't sit here doing nothing!"

"Yeah, I know how you feel..." Sonny looked down at his blocked arm.

"Bravo Two, respond," Jason tried.  
"Bravo Four, do you copy?" he started to get impatient. "Damn it!"

"Ok, what's really going on here?" Sonny drew his boss' attention.  
"He's not Nate," he looked him straight in the eyes.

"What?" he said, directly facing him. "What the hell did Ray tell you?"

"Nothing, I just know you."  
He cleared his throat. "And I know it's not your fault."

Jason stepped away.

Sonny made him look straight at him again. "It wasn't back then, and it isn't now."

Jason sat down in the chopper.  
"I don't get why you don't like the jungle... this place makes you wiser," he chuckled.

...

Ray was half immersed in the swamp, taking care of Clay, when they heard movements coming from across the vegetation.  
He immediately embraced his gun, fearing it could be a wild animal, while the younger soldier could just stood there watching the scene.

"Ray?" A familiar voice reached him. "Ray!"

He tried to relax a bit, knowing that with all that adrenaline flowing in his veins he could have easily shot one of his friends.

"Right here guys!" he got up to be more easily seen by them.

Cerberus immediately approached Clay, and started licking his face.

"Hey man," Trent started checking on Ray. "You alright?"

"I'll be good," he withdrew from his friend's hands.  
"Let's take care of him now." He pointed at their injured teammate.

"Hey, kid! Always in trouble, eh?" Trent started valuing the situation.

"I'm just trying to make you guys feel useful...you know..." Clay painfully chuckled.

"Of course you are," Trent bit his lips, then he turned to the others, "I can't tell if there are internal damages from here, but the blade didn't seem to be penetrated too deep." His voice was calm, but they could easily sense his concern.

Trent got in the swamp. "Let's start getting rid of these mangroves, I'll have a better visual then," he said, taking a big knife out of his backpack.

...

"Hold on kid, we're almost there." Ray said, feeling that his friend was about to lose consciousness.  
"Just be thankful that Sonny isn't here, uh?" he tried to distract him from the pain.  
"Oh, he will keep telling this story forever, you can bet it." Ray cleared his voice.  
"Everything in the jungle wants to kill you," he tried to imitate Sonny's voice, "remember the time the kid was almost eaten by the mangroves?"

"I know...he will never stop teasing me, " Clay managed to say. "Well, if I'm gonna get out of this alive..."

"What the hell are you saying? Of course you are getting out alive!" Ray insisted. "And prepare: the one and only time Sonny is right about something? He will never let this go!"

He finished cutting some branches, then he turned to his teammates. "Now, what's the plan?"

"Ok, guys. We have to take him out of there," Trent resolutely said. "He can't stay soaking in that nasty water any longer."

"Yeah, ok... and what about the giant blade in his side?"

They could almost hear the little hamster wheel turning in Trent's head.

"We have to take it out." he stated. "It's our only option."

"Isn't he gonna bleed out that way?" Ray objected.

"Not if we cover the wound quickly enough..." Trent stared at Clay.

"Do it!" Clay's voice sounded like calling from hell. "Get me...out."

"Yeah, ok Spens, we will." Ray's tone was far from being reassuring.

"Bravo Four, this is One," the radio was finally working again.

"Go for Bravo Four, Boss," Trent replied.

"What's your status?"

"Working on freeing the kid," Trent stepped away from his injured friend. "Not gonna be easy though."

"Do...can..." the interference got again in the way.

"Boss? I can't hear you..." Trent tried to reach him, unsuccessfully.

"Great, comms are out again, " Brock pointed out annoyed.  
"So, how do we do that?"

"Nice and easy!" Trent approached Clay's position. "Or we risk to cut his side deeper.  
"Let's try like this: I'll hold the kid still while you two extract the blade. Then I'll be right there to put pressure on the wound, and make sure he doesn't bleed out. Ok?"

Brock and Ray nodded. "Ok, let's go then."

"Alright Spens, this is not gonna be pleasant." Trent said, with a hand on the kids right shoulder and the other on his left hip. "But you have to stay as still as you can, copy that?"

He nodded. "Just do it," he said, gritting his teeth.

"Ready?" Trent said, looking him straight. "Look at me, and concentrate on your respiratory rate.  
"Go!" he said, and the other two removed the blade.

Clay struggled to keep his eyes wide open, but the pain was too much to handle, and he had to close them.

 _"Is this where we're gonna live now?" six years old Clay asked his grandparents, "There's nothing here!"_

 _"How many things you have is not important son," his grandfather bowled-out him, "What really matters is that you have us, and we have you."_

 _The boy looked at him annoyed and confused._

 _"You'll understand it one day... when you'll have people to look for," his grandmother kindly intervened. "In the meantime, regard this as a funny camping trip, you'll get use to it before you know."_

Clay growled as his teammate pressed his hands against his side, and his mind was brought back to the present.

At that point they could drag him to a more suitable position, where Trent could patch up his wound.

He did his best to contain the bleeding, then he took a saline bag from the medic kit, and inserted an IV in Clay's arm. "This should help with the dehydration, at least for a while," he said as his friend was lying exhausted on the ground.

...

"Night is coming," Brock pointed out. "We have to reunite with the others."

"Can we move him?" Ray looked at Clay.

"It will be better not, but..." Trent looked around visibly concerned. "Settling near this swamp is too risky." He knew that it was the perfect place for insects and snakes to come for them.

The two soldiers nodded, and started disposing a litter to transport Clay.

"I can... agh..." he tried to move into a sitting position, but Trent immediately stopped him.  
"Lay still. Let me finish patching you up," he ordered, trying to get his multiple cuts cleaned.

"Bravo One, this is Four," he tried. "Don't know if you reach me, but we are heading toward you."

Cerberus started to get eager, constantly searching through the leaves, to protect his teammates form wild animals.

"Guys, if we want to go, we need to move now," Brock said. "Visibility won't stay good for long."

They nodded and carefully managed to settle Clay in the litter, to head toward their Boss.

...

"Wait!" Clay stopped them midway. "I think I'm gonna be sick..."

They put him down, and Trent helped him moving to his side just in time, as he started throwing up.

"So what? We give you motion sickness now?" Ray smirked, to hide his concern.

Clay's stomach was giving him a really hard time for a while. He succeeded in controlling the nausea before, but now he was too tired, and he had to give up.

"Sorry, It's not..." He couldn't finish the sentence that started throwing up again.

"It's ok, kid...ok. Take your time." Trent said, sustaining him, and trying to maintain him in a comfortable position. He could feel his stomach tensed, and his abdominal muscles all contracted. "Try to relax..."

'Blood loss, dehydration, and now vomiting...this is definitely not good,' Trent though. 'He is going to lose his last strengths soon.'  
He looked at Ray, almost as if he would telepathically communicate his concern to him, without scaring the kid.

Ray caught his teammate's gaze, and shivered, understanding the subliminal message.

"Just breathe, and relax," Trent carefully cleaned Clay's mouth. "It's ok, we're right here."

While the other two were taking care of the kid, Brock was checking the surroundings.  
As Cerberus pointed at something, he quickly embraced his gun, and went into watch mode.

At that sudden movement Trent and Ray left the kid laying with his back on the ground, and did the same.

"False alarm, it was just a monkey." They relaxed a bit.

Trent sighted, and turned back to Clay. "You feel better?"

He moaned, turning painfully on his side, and throwing up again.

"I think that's a no." Ray said.

"Sorry guys... I..."

"Don't worry, take deep breaths... there you go." Trent reassured him. "We will give you a few more minutes, ok?"

"Guys... Don't move..." Ray suddenly said.

Trent froze, as he saw his teammate pointing his gun slightly over his head.

Clay startled at the sight of a big snake hanging over them. Looking up, he was invested by a beam of light that scattered through the leaves, leaving him temporary blinded.

 _"Always keep your eyes open, tubaaboo" the kid he thought he saw before appeared again. "You never know what's hiding among the branches."_

Immediately Ray took a clean shot at the animal.

Clay gasped as the loud noise waked him from his daydream, as his respiratory rate started to accelerate.

"It's ok kid, I got you," Ray said right after. "But we have to leave, now guys!"

Not that far from their position, Jason and Sonny jumped on their feet hearing the gunshot.

They looked at each other, concern was stamped on their faces.

"Bravo Four, this is One, what the hell was that?" The radio incredibly sounded.

"Everything ok, Boss." They quickly replied. "It was just a stupid snake. We will be right there."

The two sighted in relief, but the flow of adrenaline didn't calm down.

"Guys, you should listen to me, everything wants to kill you in the jungle!" Sonny remarked through the radio.

"Yeah, I'm starting to feel like that too." Trent added.

"Do not encourage him!" Ray said, grabbing the litter.  
"Sorry kid, we have to move."

Clay moaned as they lift him.  
"C'mon Spens, hang in there."

...

As soon as the group reached the location where the chopper fell, Jason and Sonny stood up to check on their injured teammate.

"That's not as bad as it looks like..." Clay wanted to reassure them, trying to hide the pain.

"Let me take a look, would you?" Jason said, getting closer to the kid.

The two soldiers gently put the litter down in the chopper.

"Hey, how are doing here Spens?"

"I've been worse..." He grinned.

"Yeah, I'm sure you have," Jason slightly shocked his head.

"You sure you're good boss?" Trent asked, to make sure he wasn't still suffering from the consequences of the crash.

"I'm good," he replied. "Much better than before, I promise," he added, feeling his teammates' worried looks on him.

Sonny sat down near Clay's position. "You can't tell me I wasn't right about this damn jungle!" he couldn't help but remark it.

"Can't really debate here... Ohw..." Clay replied, settling down in the new position.

...

Before the night came, the weather turned against them, as the rain started falling copiously.

"Of course we had to get lost in the jungle in the rainy season!" Sonny was starting getting mad for real.

They had to improvise a shelter in the back of the chopper to repair from the rain.

"This should be fine," Ray didn't sound very convincing.

"At least we should go through the night," Jason confirmed.

Brock offered to take the first watch, letting the others recover a bit.

Everyone was extremely tired, but Sonny was hopelessly restless.

"You know I can't sleep in the damn jungle," he said, settling near their injured friend.

Their clothes were dirty and wet, and they were sweating as hell in the blanket of heat that had created in their shelter.

Despite all of that, Sonny noticed that Clay was strongly shaking, and put the back of his hand on his friend's forehead.

"Damn it! He is burning." He said to Brock. "Who knows what he could caught from this damn mosquitoes!"

"Stop being so paranoid, please! It could be the result of the shock," he replied. "Make yourself useful instead, and find some MEDs in the kit, will you?"

Sonny searched the bag, and tried to make Clay swallow some pills, but the kid wouldn't obey.

He looked straight at Clay for a few seconds, his skin was ghost-white, his muscles were all tensed, and the shivering wasn't stopping.

"C'mon, kid, you have to take this," he tried again, unsuccessfully.

At the third try Jason woke up. "Ok, let me do this," he sleepily said.  
He brought the pills. "Hey, woke up kid, C'mon," he said gently snapping him on his cheeks.

Clay moaned, but he didn't open his eyes.

"C'mon Spens."  
He put a bottle of water against his lips, and waited for him to take a small sip, to make sure he wouldn't suffocate with the pills.

"Here you go," he said, successfully administrating the MEDs, and letting him carefully laid down.

"He will be fine, right?" It was rare to hear Sonny so genuinely scared.

"We have to wait," Jason replied. "We don't have the instrument to tell exactly what's going on here."

"Go back to sleep guys, I'll extend my watch a little longer," Brock said.

"No way man." Ray stepped in, raising from his laid-down position. "My turn, you need rest too."

"Woh Ray, you sure you can take this? You really look like crap!" Sonny said.

"Thanks brother, but I don't think I look so much worse than you!"

"Yeah, I hate to admit that, but he is right Ray, you sure you ok?" Jason said, looking straight in his eyes.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he assured, but his boss wouldn't stop staring at him.

"I'm hot, my head hurts and every muscle and bone in my body ache..." he continued. "But if one of you can tell me you don't feel the same, please be my guest."

"Ok...you got a good point. All of you, let's go back to sleep."


	3. 3 A way home

The sun raised, but the MEDs haven't succeeded in taking Clay's temperature down.

"Ate...lee?" Clay whined, "Soo sutoo..."

"This is no good, Boss," Sonny said, trying to understand what the kid was saying.

"Clay, C'mon open your eyes," Jason put his hand on Clay's forehead.

"I won't get lost Baaba, I promise..." Clay continued his delirious, one side conversation.  
"Please, let me go... let me..."

"Hey, it's me, Jace," he tried to bring him around. "C'mon, kid, stay with us," he tried again, unsuccessfully.  
He turned to his other teammates. "He is lost in his memories. "I doubt he can even feel us here..." he sighed.

 _Young Clay was sitting in the tent, looking up to his grandfather._

 _"It's too dangerous son," the man said. "You're not ready for that."_

 _"I am, Baaba. I am!" the boy protested insistently. "I want to explore the jungle."_

 _"I already told you, it's too dangerous for you." The man sat down, and took the boy in his arms._

 _"It's not! Kids younger than me are allowed to go. Please, let me!"_

 _"But you are not like them, and you know that."_

 _"That's not fair..." the boy ran away._

"It's not fair..." Clay whined.  
"Not...fair..." he was stirring and moving around, like he was really trying to escape.

"Easy kid, easy," Jason struggled to calm him down.

...

The rain wouldn't stop, and with those poor weather conditions there was no chance Blackburn could send someone to rescue them.

"We can't stay here sitting on our hands, not while the kid is like that." Trent said, pointing at Clay.  
"We have to find a way out of this damn forest!"

"But we can't randomly move him!" Sonny objected. "We don't even know exactly where we are! This damn trees are making the GPS mad!"

"So we split," Jason stopped the arguing. "Again..."  
"Look guys, I don't like this option either, but..." he looked at Clay, "we have to reestablish contact with TOC: it's the only way they can find us, and that we can take him out of here in time."

They all reluctantly agreed.

"Ray, as soon as the rain abates a little, you take Brock and Cerberus, and go find a radio signal," Jason ordered.

...

"Mmm..." Clay tried to move again.

"Hold on kid," Trent moved closer to him. "Calm down, I'm here."

"N so...jiyoo la..." he grabbed his friend's sleeve.

"English Clay!" Trent tried to bring him back to the present.

"W-water..." Clay barely managed to say. "Please..."

Trent looked at his boss. "We haven't got much, but the kid needs it."

Jason nodded.

"Ok kid, but only a couple of small sips, or you'll start vomiting again." Trend gently lifted him, and helped him drink.

"Oh man!" Sonny said impatiently. "It seems it's gonna rain forever!  
"Ok guys, you are my brothers, but, as much as I love spending time with you, I'm really starting to go mad here."

"And at this rate we won't move from here any time soon," Ray confirmed.

"We don't have a choice, if you are leaving the camp now, there's a good chance you get lost, and even the dog won't be able to help in those conditions," Jason said.  
"We are trained for this, don't lose your minds," he ordered trying to keep his cool.

...

Another day passed, and the rain fall finally started to decrease.

"I think that's our chance, let's go." Ray jumped up, losing his balance for a moment.

"Woo, take it easy man!" Brock said, holding him.

"You are not going anywhere like this," Jason ordered, looking straight at him.  
"Change of plan, Trent, you're with Brock.  
"I'll take care of them, brother. Don't worry," he added noticing his concerned look.

"But I'm fine!" Ray protested.

"Stop questioning! This can be serious." Jason helped him sit back. "We don't know what we have been exposed to, walking in this forest for so long, not to talk about the fact that we crashed!"

"And I thought I was the paranoid once," Sonny said, trying to relieve the tension.

"Alright guys," Jason turned to Brock and Trent. "You find a way to contact TOC, leave a signal for them to find us, and get straight back here."

"Copy that boss." Trent said, leaving.

...

 _Clay found himself again in the middle of the forest. Alone and disoriented, he looked around, and saw a figure going further trough the vegetation._

 _"Brian? Is that you?" he started following him._

 _"Stop!" he yelled. "Please stop, wait for me!"_

 _He finally reached him. "Would you stop leaving me alone like that?"_

 _"You are not alone... look better!"_

 _Clay turned around, and looked carefully through the leaves._

 _"C'mon brother! You can't really see them?" Brian's tone grew more upset.  
"Try harder!"_

 _He started to hear some familiar voices, his teammates' voices.  
"Guys? Are you there?"  
Then he turned back to Brian, but he was gone.  
"Hey! Don't do this, don't leave me again..."_

 _"Focus on the present," he barely heard his voice._

Clay slowly opened his eyes, and tried to get up, but the pain in his side made him immediately change his mind.

"Hey, look who's back with us!" Ray smiled.

"Hey, sleeping beauty! We were starting to think we will have to replace you," Sonny said.

"What? Where..." he whispered. "Where are we?"

"What's the last thing you remember?" Jason asked him, putting a hand on his forehead to check on his temperature.

"Chopper crashed..." he paused, waiting until his boss removed his hand.  
"I was stuck in mangroves... you guys took me out... no idea 'bout what happened next..."

"We settled a camp between the chopper's main rests." Jason said, checking his status. "We have been here for almost three days now."

"What? Three..."

"Hold still!" he softly pressed a hand on his friend's chest. "Looks like your fever's went down now, but it's not time to get up yet."

"How are you feeling?" Ray asked.

"Not much worse than you, I think." Clay sighted, leaning back.

"Umph..." Ray chuckled, looking at his boss.

...

Trent, Brock and Cerberus proceeded through the vegetation, trying to find a spot where the radio could work.

The dog led them, preventing wild animals to show up, and attack them.

"Bravo Four? Thank God!" Blackburn voice sounded from the radio. "What happened? Are you all good?"

"TOC, it's good to finally hear your voice again!" Trent quickly replied, relieved. "Chopper had a malfunction, we crashed in the middle of the forest."

"We are searching for you, but the weather condition are not in favor of a rescue mission," Davis stepped in. "What are your conditions?" her voice was full of concern.

"Pilot's dead... no other casualties. Sonny has a dislocated shoulder, I think Ray caught Malaria or something like that, and... Spenser's in a pretty bad shape."

"Roger that, we are gonna arrange for the proper medical care," Davies said through the radio. "But we can't reach you in the middle of the forest, and satellites and drones are useless there."

"Yeah, we know, we have to find a way out."

"Does your GPS works?" Blackburn stepped in.

Trent looked at his piece of equipment, "Yeah, I think it works now," he said, telling them their position. "Just hope this piece of junk is reliable..."

"We have to," Davis said.  
"Ok, there is an opening among the trees, 12 kilometers north from your position. I'll send you the coordinates, do you think you can meet us there?"

"It's gonna be hard, but we will arrange something." He looked uncertain to his teammates.

"We have to go back to our camp now, the rain is going down again," Brock stepped in. "The radio won't work there."

"Copy that, we will be at that spot as soon as the rain let us," Blackburn assured. "Be careful out there. TOC out."

"One, this is Four." Trent tried to contact the camp, then he turned to Brock shaking his head, "nothing, again..."

While they were on their way back the rain started to fall violently, and they had to take a break, repairing under some trees.

Suddenly Cerberus started to bark at Trent, and in a blink of an eye, he jumped on the man.

"What are you doing?" Brock asked, incredulous.

Trent fell on the ground, he had not noticed a snake was climbing on him.  
The dog saved his life, fighting against it.

Both the men got theirs gun, but they couldn't shoot, risking to hit the dog. Cerberus had to do it on himself.

The snake bit him on the leg, and disappeared into the vegetation.

"Damn it!" the two soldiers rushed to the dog. He was slightly yelping, and couldn't get up.

"We must have antivenin serum, right?" Brock concern was growing more and more.

"Yes, but I'm not a vet: I don't know which one to use, nor the reaction the dog will have to it..."

Cerberus was breathing heavily, and his leg was swelling rapidly.

"Spenser is the one to know everything of this damn place... including information on snake's bites."

"Someone else should know... we have to do something!"

Trent bandaged the wound, while Brock tried to keep the dog still, slowing down the spreading of the venom in his body. Then the latter took the dog on his shoulder, and they headed to the camp.

...

"It's been a while now, should we be worried?" Sonny asked.

"I'm sure they're fine," Jason said. "Just wait."

Half an hour later, they successfully came back.

"Any news?" Ray quickly asked.  
"What happened?" his tone immediately changed seeing his teammates concerned faces.

"Snake bite," Brock said, putting the dog down next to Clay's position.

"What kind?" Sonny asked, turning his attention on the newly injured teammate.

"We...we don't know," he said, "We hoped the kid may help, but..." he looked at the sleeping younger man.

"It's ok, fever got down, he was conscious before." Jason explained.

"Hey, kid!" Trent gently woke Clay.  
"C'mon, we need your help."

"Mmm... W-what happened?" he opened his eyes.

"Cerb was bitten by a snake, we don't know what kind of serum we have to give him."

The kid looked at the dog, he was breathing more and more heavily, and he was strongly shaking.

"Can you describe the snake?" the kid painfully moved into a sitting position, with Jason's careful help.

"Dark brown and black stripes," Brock described the animal.

"Those weren't stripes, more like triangles," Trent interrupted.  
"It had kind of small horns by the nose..."

"And it had black triangular marking on its eyes," Brock added, "like an evil look..." they could sense his extreme concern through his voice.

"Yeah... It-it must be Gaboon viper," Clay stated.

"You sure?" they were all skeptical that the kid could focus on the current situation.

"Agh... damn sure, it is!" he forced himself to say.

"Ok, we trust you, jungle boy." Sonny put a hand on his friend's shoulder, nodding to the others.

Trent was ready to inject the serum to the dog, but Clay stopped him,  
"Wait! You have to test it for allergic reaction before that."

Trent stood there with the needle in his hand. "How?"

"Just put some drops around the wound..."

"Ok, now?" Brock insisted.

"Wait, just a minute..."

"Nothing's happening!"

"That's good, you can give him half a normal dose..." he heavily leaned back, exhausted.

Cerberus slowly started to breath normally, and quickly stopped yelping, as Clay shared his blanket with him, keeping him warm and calm.

"Alright..." the relive filled the chopper's remains, and everyone could relax.

"Good job kid," Trent reassured Clay.

"That was too close," Brock was still shocked.

"Yeah," Jason looked toward his two injured teammates, both already soundly asleep. "We have to take them out of here."

"Speaking of that," Trent jumped in the conversation, "We have an extraction point."

"Yeah, will not be so easy to reach though, even if they weren't in those conditions..." Brock added. "We have to carefully study the right path."

"Well, we have some time, if the weather conditions don't improve, we will be however stuck here," Jason said. "Sit tight, save your strength, and..."

"Pray for the rain to stop," Sonny interrupted him.

...

Another night came, but this time the weather conditions started to slowly improve.

"That's good." Jason said to Ray, while the others were sleeping. "If it goes on this way, we will be able to leave soon in the morning."

Ray absently listened, and before he could say anything, he had to get out of the shelter and threw up.

"Woo, you sure got something here," Jason said, when he came back in. "You ok?"

"To be honest, I had this nausea for a while... You may be right."

"I always am." Jason forced a smile.

At sunrise they all got up, ready to reach the extraction point.

"Alright guys, Ray's sick, and Sonny have only one good arm, so the heavy lifting is on us three."

Ray and Sonny tried to protest, but Jason immediately stopped them.

"You think Cerberus can walk?" he asked Brock.

"Yeah, sure." he looked at him, "He's strong, he can do anything!"

"What are we doing with him?" Sonny asked, pointing at the pilot's corpse.

"I'll take him," Jason firmly said. "No one will be left behind!"

They all silently nodded.

"Alright, pack only the bare necessities, our load is already heavy enough."

Trent and Brock approached Clay's litter.

"You ready kid?" Trent said, before lifting him.

"Yeah, ready, but..." he said. "I'm so sorry you have to do this..."

"Don't worry! Just stay still, and relax, we got you."

"Sonny, you lead the way, Ray hold dog's leash. Let's go."

"Are we really trusting Sonny's orientation skills here?" Trent ironically asked, tearing a good laugh from everyone.

...

Jason was constantly keeping an eye on his men, trying to catch every sign of exhaustion.  
'C'mon, we can't stop here, hold on guys, hold on!' he kept thinking, aware that if they stopped, even for a bit, a million things could go wrong.

About 4 kilometers from their destination, Ray almost fainted, ending knelt on the ground, with Cerberus yelping, and sticking right beside him.

"Woo, you ok man?" Jason carefully put down the pilot's corps, and quickly reached Ray's side.

"Yeah, ok... just tripped in a root," he obviously lied, trying to get up.

He reeled, and his boss had to keep him straight.

Jason sighed.  
"Ok, we stop for a minute," he ordered.

Despite the location wasn't that comfortable, everyone nodded relieved, and beat.

Sonny held on, thinking about leaning against a tree, then he remembered: 'everything wants to kill you here,' and he changed his plans.

"How's the kid?" he asked, to not think about where they were camping.

"Unconscious, but still breathing," Trent said, putting the litter on the ground.  
"Fever raised up again, but bleeding seems to be under control for now," he added checking on his vitals.

"Alright. everyone take a couple of deep breaths..." they all knew they had to move quickly.

"C'mon, let's go now!" the soldiers got up at their boss order, and set off.

Unfortunately, when they finally arrived at their destination, no one was there waiting for them.


	4. 4 Stick togheter

Author's Note: _Hi, thank you all for following and reviewing my story.  
I'm working hard to keep the team interaction in character, and to give a proper look in their minds, especially with Clay and his memories (I'm glad you liked that parts by the way).  
I'm sorry if I can't update with a perfect regular schedule, but I'm trying!  
Hope you will enjoy the next chapter. Have a good time._

* * *

.

* * *

"Are you sure this is the actual place?" Sonny's tone was getting really nervous, and they all knew that patience was not one of his best qualities.

"You were the one who was leading!" Brock said, stopping.

"Yeah..." Trent said, as they carefully put Clay's litter on the ground.  
"They'll be here," he assured, noticing that Sonny wasn't the only one with a disappointed expression on his face.  
"Even in this condition, we should trust our equipment, and moreover, we should trust our team."

"Especially in this condition!" Jason stepped in, trying to keep his cool. "Everyone at TOC is doing everything in their power to get to us, you can bet on that!"

"Let's try the radio..." Ray suggested, sitting on the ground, completely out of strengths.  
"I always feel safer with a working radio," he whispered, quite talking to himself.

"TOC this is Bravo One." Jason tried. "Do you copy?" They waited.

"TOC, this is One. We're ready for exfil, where are you?" he tried again.

There was a deafening silence, then some noise interference came through the radio.

"Roge... Bravo O... You...ride wil...there any minut..."

They tried to find a better signal, but nothing more happened.

All of them sighed, looking one another.

"Damn jungle!" Sonny remarked, half relieved.

"Ok guys, we can sit tight and rest, they're coming for us," Jason said, looking at his exhausted teammates.

...

For the first time in days, they were again in the open air. The sun was still up, with no trees or leaves blocking its rays, and they had clean visual for more than a few meters.

Now they could finally breathe again, and relax a little bit.

They sat there, hoping to eventually dry their humid clothes, while constantly scanning the sky to spot friendly faces.

"Let me take a look," Trent said, trying to put his hand on Ray's forehead to check his temperature.

"I'm good," Ray retracted, "A night of good sleep, and I'm gonna be a new man," he assured.

After all those days with the adrenaline level at the top, they were all obviously at their limit, and having this little opportunity to rest, with a concrete chance they could soon reach home, was a real blessing.  
A rarity they couldn't waste.

Of course that was true for all of them but their Master Chief.  
Jason had to take care of his men, he couldn't let go, he had to keep focusing on the team till they were safe for real.

He watched over Sonny, who was leaned back to back on the half asleep Ray, with the concerned Trent secretly scanning them; he looked at Brock softly petting the resting Cerberus; he silently observed the unconscious and pale Clay.

"You ok, Boss?" Trent caught eyes with him.

"I'm good till you guys are good." He nodded.

The silence that dropped around them was quite unreal.  
They could barely hear birds tweeting in the distance, while trying to sense the helicopter coming for them, but they didn't dare to talk, to not miss that precious sound.  
Maybe they even had not the strengths to talk.

At some point Cerberus started yelping, drawing Brock's attention on Clay.  
"Guys..." he called out. "There's something wrong with the kid!"

Trent immediately knelt by him, "Nose bleeding," he noted. Then he carefully moved the injured soldier to his left side to make sure he didn't swallow the blood, and suffocate with it.

"Mmm... What..." Clay regained consciousness, finding someone pressing a towel to his nose. His muscles tensed, and he instinctively tried to free himself.

"Easy kid, it's just Trent." Jason approached, putting a hand on his shoulder.  
"We have to stop this, you can't afford to lose more blood," he said, glancing at the bandage on his right side. It was far from being sterile anymore, with dark red blood clotted all over it.

"Yeah, I know," Trent glanced at him, "I should have already replaced it, but I was fearing to do him more harm than good."

"I guess we don't have much choice by now..." Jason took the medic kit. "What do you need?"

The others could only stare at the scene, powerless.  
They were men of action, and being blocked there, knowing they could do nothing to help their teammates, was one of the most difficult thing they ever had to do.

"Come here, take my place," Trent said to his boss. "The nose bleeding isn't stopping, you have to keep on the pressure,  
"Yeah, like this," they switched, "Careful! Don't suffocate him."

"Ok, I have children, I know how to treat a bleeding nose," Jason stated.

Trent put his hands on Clay's side, to remove the bandage.  
"Hey, try to relax kid, I know this isn't pleasant, but trust me on this, ok?" he said as the young man instinctively tried to avoid the contact.

Clay could barely understand what was going on around him, but those two, simple words: 'trust me,' somehow successfully reached his brain.

 _"I hate him!" ten years old Clay was throwing rocks at trees, "I'm never, ever gonna trust him again... anymore!"_

 _"Ok son, stop it," his grandfather took him aside. "C'mon, come here,"  
"Your father let you down too many times, I know that," the man tried to comfort the kid. "And I know that, right now, you think it's better for you to just leave him alone, and forget about him." _

_The boy was forced to look straight at him, but he didn't say a word._

 _"You have to keep in mind that when you really love someone, you can't let go, you have to give him one more chance."_

 _"But I hate him..." his eyes were full of tears._

 _"No, you don't..." he kindly smiled at his grandson. "Not really."_

 _"I'm not gonna trust anyone, ever again..."_

 _"Woo, don't rush things now!" he took him by his shoulders, looking him straight in the eyes.  
"You can't do that, son."_

 _They stood silent for a few seconds._

 _"You still trust me and your grandmother, don't you?"_

 _The kid reluctantly nodded, taking a deep breath._

 _"And you know that we trust you, and we believe in you. Even if sometimes you make some bad choices, we still love you. You know that, right?"_

 _The kid nodded again, trying to understand where the man was going with it._

 _"You have to take that path open," his grandfather kindly warned him.  
"If you do, someday you will find someone who you will trust with your life, and they will do the same with you. But if you don't, and you block that path, loneliness will be all you have..." _

Clay growled in pain, as Trent removed the last layer of gauze, exposing the wound, gasping at the sight.

"What?" Jason asked, noticing his teammate's reaction.

"This is not going well, the wound... it's infected."

"Of course it is!" Sonny stepped in from behind.

"Alright, Brock, help us keeping him still," Trent searched for the alcohol in his bag. "Boss, you try to keep him conscious, this is gonna hit really thought on him."

They nodded, constantly over-watched by the other two frogmen.

"Let's do this," Trent poured the liquid abundantly on Clay's wound.  
As the first drop reached his lacerated skin he contracted, trying to escape from the pain, but his teammates held him still.

"Agh..."

"Stay with us, kid," Jason held his head, with one hand still containing the nose bleeding, and the other one gently placed on Clay's cheek.  
"C'mon, keep your eyes open, look at me," he kept talking to him.

"Agh..." Clay desperately tried to stay strong, and to not let his teammates down, but the pain had the best of him.  
"Mmm... please, stop..." he couldn't stop stirring.

"It's ok," Trent reassured, "I'm almost there."  
He put some fresh bandages on the wound, and Brock could finally let him go.

Jason continued sustaining him, keeping him on his side.  
He could feel him wavering, all tensed, and shocked.

"Where the hell is the damn helo?" he yelled, frustrated.

...

Bravo Team's mood was now at his lowest point. Frustration, exhaustion, and tension filled the air.

"Wait, did you hear that?" Sonny eagerly got up, abruptly awakening Ray, and making him fall on his back as his support defaulted.

"What the..." Ray tried to protest, but Jason hissed him.

"They're coming," Sonny scanned the sky, relieved.

"Hey, kid. C'mon, the cavalry's here," Trent tried to wake Clay, "We're going home."  
But the kid was totally lost in his mind again.

 _"You're going home for the holiday," twelve years old Clay looked at his grandmother as she told him the 'good news.'  
"What now? You're not happy to spend Christmas with your mom." She said, noticing the unhappy expression on his face. _

_"Yeah, of course I am...but...what about you?"_

 _"What about us?" She, asked puzzled._

 _"I want to stay with you too..." He pointed out. "You are my family too... even more than..."_

 _"Don't finish that sentence son," his grandfather interrupted him, disappointed. "Your mother entrusted us with you because she needed help, not because she doesn't care. And you perfectly know that!"_

 _"Yeah, I know... I'm sorry..." he tried to apologize. "It's just..."_

 _"This is nothing to do with you flying alone back and forward over the ocean, right?" grandmother kindly suggested._

 _"No!" the boy tried to hide his concern. "Ok, maybe..." he finally had to admit. "Can't you really came?"_

 _"It's gonna be ok, baby," she softly hugged him. "We'll be here for you the exact moment you land back."_

...

As the helicopter landed, two corpsman jumped out, and promptly headed to them.

"Bravo Team? We're here for you!" one of them said. "We can transport only 4 of you on this, we take the injured first."

The soldiers looked at them puzzled.

"There is another helo 5 mikes away, waiting we clear the ground," he assured, quickly checking his new patients.

Jason looked at his men, for sure he wasn't eager to separate from them, but he knew that was the right call.

"Ok," he nodded. "Spenser is in the worst conditions, he is bleeding, and has a high fever," he said, while the other medic was already taking care of the kid.  
"Ray, Sonny, you're on the first helo too."

"It appears you sustained a head injury, you should come too," the corpsman added.

"I'm not going before all my men does," Jason insisted.

"Never thought I could say that, but, ehm..." Sonny jumped in. "I'm good, Brock should take Cerberus, they should go first."

They all looked at him, not knowing if he caught some strange fever, or if hardly knocked his head, but Jason approved his suggestion.

Trent helped a medic transporting Clay's litter on board, while the other one was leading Ray in.

"Hey, keep a look on them, ok?" Jason said as Brock managed to put the dog on the helicopter.

He nodded and jumped in, as the remaining Bravo Team could only watch them take off.

"Is there really someone coming for us too, right?" Sonny didn't even wait for their friends to step out of their sight.

The other two slightly chuckled, shaking their heads. They were too worried to care about Sonny's stupid concerning.

A couple of minutes later the second helicopter was there for the remaining frogmen.

Sonny jumped in as soon as the helicopter touched the ground, eager to leave that damn place.  
Jason and Trent loaded the pilot's corpse on board, and quickly jumped in. Their main concern was now to reunite with the others as soon as it was possible.

The flight of the second group was completely silent, they couldn't stop staring at the corpse laying next to them.

Suddenly there was an air pocket, and their transportation slightly waved.

"Woo!" Sonny whined, "What the hell was that?"

"Relax, everything is under control," the co-pilot looked back to them.

"Don't tell me we have to add flying to your list of phobias," Jason smirked.

...

Blackburn and Davis were right there when the first group landed.

"You ok?" Davis asked as soon as she saw them.

"Never felt better," Ray forced his voice out, watching the two corpsmen taking Clay out.

"Oh Gosh..." she gasped, seeing the kid like that.

"Don't listen to him, he has a bad fever going on." Brock took the dog in his arms.

"Give him to me," Blackburn offered his help. "Here you are," he said putting Cerberus down. "Good boy."

Brock helped Ray get out, as the latter could barely get up on his own.

"C'mon, doctors will take care of you," Davis said, sustaining her friend on the other side.

They noticed they were already taking Clay inside, and quickly followed them.

"I'll stay here waiting for Jason and the others," the commander said while the others were leaving.

As soon as the second helicopter landed, the rest of Bravo Team jumped out, impatient to rejoin with their teammates.

"Jace, you ok?" Blackburn asked him, seeing the clotted blood on his forehead.

"I'm fine, where're the others?" he harshly replied.

"They just got inside, come with me," the commander lead them.

When they reached the rest of the team, Clay had already been brought away to be taken care of.

"You have to step away," a nurse said, as whole Bravo Team tried to go after the kid. "You need to be isolated until we know what's going on."

"No way I am gonna leave one of my men alone!" Jason insisted.

"You can't come farther," the nurse firmly stopped their way. "You have to be checked and cleared."

"I got him," Davis stepped in. "I'll stay with Spenser, you do what they say."

Bravo Team reluctantly nodded, and settled in an improvised isolation room.

The doctors tried to take Cerberus out the room, but there was no way to make him leave his team,

"He needs medical attention too!" Brock strongly pointed out, and they had no choice but give up, and let the dog stay with them.


	5. 5 Blood brothers

Bravo Team members were escorted to a large room, with a big glass door facing the corridor.  
"Settle in, I'll be right back." the nurse ordered them.

Ray had to lay down immediately on a random bed, as his head was badly spinning.  
The others had no other choice but sit thigh, and wait.  
Only Sonny couldn't help but wander around the room.

Finally the nurse got in with a few bottles of water.  
"Here, drink this." She said, starting measuring temperatures, vitals and collecting blood samples from everyone.

"I'm good," Jason said. "Start with him," he pointed at Ray.

"All of you need to be tested. A week in the forest in those conditions can be dangerous even for you, Mr. captain."

"It's Master Chief," Jason smirked.

"Well, infections don't care about military ranks." She took his arm, and inserted the needle.

All of them laughed at how the nurse succeeded in facing up to their boss.

"Alright, here you go," the nurse finished with Jason, and gave him a towel and a hospital gown, "Shower is right there, make sure to be meticulous."

"I'm not gonna put that on."

"Well, either wear this or stay naked... your choice," she said, looking him from top to bottom.

"As you command, Miss General." Jason rolled his eyes, and headed immediately to the shower, to not hear his teammates laughing at him.

"So..." Sonny timidly asked her, while she was mid-way to complete her job.  
"What are you exactly looking for in our blood?"

"Any sign of infections," she quickly replied.

"What kind, exactly?"

"Well, you can have Malaria, to say at first, or Yellow fever, and we can't forget about Dengue, Chikungunya and Zika fever, they're all endemic here..."

"Ok... stop right there, I didn't wanna really know..." Sonny said as she took his arm to draw some blood.

"Don't worry, big man," she replied, taking care of him. "They are all treatable.  
"Well, once we successfully identify them." Despite she was wearing a mask, they could surely tell she was smiling to the over concerned soldier.  
"Relax, sometimes patients disguise them with simple flu, and they got through them without even notice."

"Lucky them..." he replied, realizing she was teasing him.

"Ok, I'm done. Wait here," she said, before getting out the room. "I'll be back after your shower to fix your shoulder in position."

"Wait! We need to know how our friend is," Jason stepped out from the restroom. "Can you..."

"Yeah, I'll be back as soon as I know something."

...

"You have to wait out of the room," the nurse said, acknowledging Davis won't leave Clay's side.

"I promised I wouldn't let him out of my sight," she protested. "And I always keep my promises."

"Ok, you can look after him from there then," the nurse pointed at the corner of the room.  
"Please, let us do our job." She escorted her there, before going help the doctors.

Davis watched them freeing Clay from his torn, dirty uniform.

He moved, attempting to withdraw from the caretakers.

"Hey, it's ok. You are at the hospital," the nurse tried to calm him down, but he started agitate more and more.

His nose was bleeding again, and his wound cut back open, but he couldn't stay still.

The nurse turned to Davis for some help.

"Stop it Spenser, you're safe!" she tried to draw his attention. "I'm right here with you, relax, they won't arm you."

She was hardly trying, but her voice never reached him.

 _Clay's mind was back at SERE.  
The small cage, the loud music, pressing interrogation..._

 _He felt multiple hands on his body, stripping him._

 _'I'm not making their task easier,' he thought, opposing them._

 _He felt the heat of his own blood running down his face, his right side burning, and his head throbbing._

 _"What are you and your teammates doing in my country?" the interrogator spoke up._

 _"I have no teammates," he replied. "I already told you, I got lost..."_

"I got lost," he was raving.

"You were, but we found you, Clay," Davis stepped in, taking his hand.  
"We found you, you're safe." He looked at her, still confused, and sore.

The doctor had to sedate him as he had no intention to calm down, so they could finally take care of his wounds.

...

Bravo Team members were getting anxious as no one was coming to inform them about what was going on with Clay.  
Sonny was even more paranoid than usual; Ray was showing more and more symptoms of infection, and even Trent was starting to be affected by the fever.

Suddenly Cerberus limped by the door, and pointed at something, drawing his team's attention.

Some nurses were taking a patient into the room in front of theirs.  
They immediately recognized their friend, and started asking for information, but no one paid attention to them.

Finally Blackburn showed up. "Hey, the kid's stable for now," he told them through the glass door. "Davis is taking care of all the paperwork."

"What does 'for now' means?" Jason pressed his hand on the glass.

"Well, the wound wasn't that bad, all his vital organs are intact, but he lost a large amount of blood," he explained. "The kid would need a transfusion, but the thing is, there is no available blood here, and it will take about three days, bringing here some."

"Three days?" Sonny pointed out. "What kind of hospital is this?"

"Take mine," Ray offered. "I'm a match," he finished his sentence without even thinking.

"Are you kidding?" Jason said. "Look at you brother! You can't even lift you standing."

"So there's mine," Brock offered.

"Your blood is probably infected too." A doctor came in to take care of them.  
"We can't risk that."

"I'm good, I don't have a fever," the soldier objected.

"The fact that you are asymptomatic, doesn't mean you aren't carrying some silent infection," the doctor replied, starting examining them.

"Um, how long have you had this rush?" He asked Ray, looking at his back.

"No idea..." he shrugged.

"The good news is, with this new information, I think we can reduce the possible cause of infection to two, Dengue and Chikungunya."

"So?" Jason asked.

"So you are not contagious, those infections are transmitted through mosquitoes, and infected blood," he took his mask off.  
"We have to wait for your test result to be sure, but we can start treating your symptoms," the doctor said.

"But, if your injured friend has this..." he said, leaving. "Don't leave the room, a nurse will be here soon to administer you the MEDs."

"Wait! What's happening?" Jason yelled, but the doctor was already gone.

"I don't like this, Boss." Trent said, approaching the door.

...

The doctor rushed to Clay's room, "Kid, open your eyes," he said, circularly pressing his fist on his patient's chest.

He moaned something the doctor couldn't clearly understand, but he didn't regain consciousness.

The doctor stepped out, and consulted Davis and Blackburn.

"How well do you know him," he asked, "about his background?"

"Well enough," Davis replied puzzled. "It's my job."

"Good, is he previously been here in western Africa?"

"Yeah, a few mission," Blackburn said.

"And he also grew up around here, from the age of six, or something like that." Davis stepped in.

"Alright, do you know if he ever had Dengue fever?"

"No idea, but I can search in his medical records." She looked at her commander, worried.

"Do it," he said firmly. "Now!"

They stared at the doctor, their concern was growing more and more.

"The dangerously low pressure and the spontaneous bleeding, associated with the high fever that comes and goes, could easily be identified as a serious complication of Dengue fever," he tried to explain. "But we can see no rush, and complication like this are extremely rare for patients that catch the infection for the first time" he continued.

"Ok, but I heard you saying you can treat the others, even if you're not sure of what they have." Blackburn stepped in.

"Yes, but if I'm right, Mr. Spenser needs a transfusion immediately," the doctor looked at him through the door. "The thing is that we can't wait for the clean blood to come from a neighborhood hospital."

"So what do we do then?" The two of them asked, hoping they could actually do something for him.

"If we can prove he already had one serotype of Dengue, the diagnosis will be confirmed, and the fact he contracted a second type of this fever, most surely make him immune to further infections," he paused, realizing his interlocutors couldn't follow him.  
"Look, I don't like to vent this option, but with this confirmation, and only in case of emergency, I can use those soldiers' probably infected blood."

"Ok, I'm on it." Davis said, bringing up her satellite phone.

...

"Hey guys, are you decent?" Davis entered their room.

"With this thing on?" Sonny quickly replied, pointing at his gowns.  
"Shouldn't you be with the kid?"

"Eric's with him right now, don't worry..." She paused, feeling all the soldier's gaze on her.  
"Clay is barely stable, he will need a transfusion soon, but neither I or Eric are a match."

"The doctor has to accept our blood," Ray said, trying to sit up.

"You don't exactly look in the condition for donating." she pointed out.

"I don't care!" he flushed, and had to lay back down.

"But there could be a way out..." she tried to explain.  
"If we can prove he already had this fever before, the risk of taking your blood will be minimized. But if he never suffered from it before, the risk will be even higher."

"And we can prove that how?" Jason got closer to her.

"He is unconscious so I contacted the DEVGRU to send here Clay's medical file, but he grew up in a humanitarian mission with his grandparents, and living like that, his medical records are a mess."

"So we contact his grandparents!" Sonny jumped in the conversation.

"We can't." Davis glanced at the kid thought the door.  
"They're both gone..." she whispered.

"Hell..." he sighed.

"Adam is contacting his parents, maybe we have some luck with them."

"Terrific, we are relating on Ash Spenser now." Jason lined hopelessly on his bed.

...

About an hour later, Davis was back.

"I don't like that face." Sonny pointed out, seeing her.

"Thank you," she said.

"Bad news?" Jason turned to her.

"Not really, but no good one either," she replied.  
"Adam talked to Mr. Spenser, he didn't remember the name of the mission, or even the neighborhood villages where his son grew up."

"And we have the father of the year..." Ray whispered.

"I knew it was useless to hope he could help," Jason said frustrated.  
"What about his mom?"

"Apparently she stayed in good contact with them during that period, but she couldn't surely remember what kind of infections his son had back then."

"So we surrender, and wait for the blood test's results?"

"Well, they will take up to five days, and by then the doctors will surely obtain some clean blood from another hospital, at least I hope so..."  
She looked across the room toward Clay's. "We just pray he hold on long enough."

...

Bravo Team couldn't stop staring at Clay's room. They couldn't just relax and recover while their friend was fighting for his life.  
It was like they were on watch, especially when Davis and Blackburn were somewhere else taking care of bureaucratic stuff.

"I'm glad that at least Ray can sleep," Sonny hinted with a bit jealousy in his voice.

"Yeah, he was really starting to look like crap." Trent confirmed.

It was just above sunrise when an alarm sounded from across the corridor, waking Ray, and startling the others.

"What's happening?" Sonny asked. "Boss?"

"Hey, we need some help here," Jason yelled, ready to cut out of the room. "Hey! Help!"

A doctor rushed in, followed by Davis, who eventually had to stop outside the room.

"What the hell is happening?" Trent asked, approaching the door.

"Let them do their job," Davis said, trying to stay calm as Blackburn joined them.

A few minutes later the doctor stepped out Clay's room, and went to inform Bravo Team about the kid's conditions. "We managed to stabilize him, but..." he explained. "We have no time left, he needs that transfusion now."

"We have to take the risk," Trent said. "We can't stay here watching him die! You have to give him our blood."

"I can't authorize that..." the doctor objected.

"Trent's right," Jason hesitantly added. "You can't let him go like this," he said, looking at his commander.

Blackburn felt all the look on him.  
"Ok," he nodded. "I'll authorize that. Do it now!" he firmly ordered.

"Alright, your choice, but you'll have to sign some paper."

He nodded again, "Just do whatever you have to."

Meanwhile they filed the needed paperwork, a nurse stepped in to draw the blood, to start the transfusion as soon as possible.

Jason and Sonny weren't a match, and despite the MEDs had already started to work, Ray was in no condition to donate his blood, with all his disappointment.  
Fortunately Brock and Trent were, so they become the designed blood banks.

The doctor administered Clay only the blood strictly necessary to keep him alive until the clean supplies could be there, to try to minimize the risks.

They knew it would take time to see the effects of the treatment, but they were too worried to stay calm.

"How is it possible that a bunch of highly trained snipers, used to sit tight in a number of crazy situations, cannot handle a little waiting," Davis tried to distract them.

"Yeah, good point..." Jason said. "But we are talking about a brother here."

"This is family!" Ray added.

"Oh man, I think I'm starting to hate hospitals, even more then I hate jungle." Sonny jumped into the conversation, receiving all kind of strange looks from his teammates.


	6. 6 Drifting away

Before the night came the doctor had to administer Clay a second bag of his teammates' blood, as the first had not been enough.

"Hey," Davis drew Blackburn's attention. "Any news?"

He shook his head. "I hoped to say 'no reaction is a good reaction,' but I'm afraid it's not quite the case."

She took a deep breath.

"He is holding on," the commander added. "He is a frogman, furthermore a second generation frogman. One of the toughest..."

"Yeah, you can say it," she nodded.  
She put a hand on the commander shoulder. "Why don't you go resting a bit? My watch now."

As soon as Blackburn got out of the room, Davis settled near Clay's bed, waiting for him to regain consciousness.  
The last thing they all wanted was for him to wake up alone.

Usually she enjoyed seeing him sleeping in the hammock, it would mean that their flight should be quiet, but this time it wasn't that good.  
"C'mon, open your eyes," she muttered, staring at him.

Even with her presence there, she constantly felt Bravo Team's look on the kid.  
"See?" she moved at his side to clean his visual, even if she knew he wasn't watching. "They won't stop watching your six."

She was staring into distance, absent-minded, when Clay started tossing and whining.

"Hey, hey." She softly passed a hand on his hair. "It's ok Clay."

His blue eyes were wide open, staring at her. Confusion and fear were stamped on his face.

'Wait, fear? No way! He is a tear one operator,' she thought, looking him straight.

He opened his mouth to say something, but his voice didn't come out.

"You are at Edina's hospital, you guys made it here yesterday." Her tone was way softer than usual.

He tried to lift, and look around. "Where... ahg... the others?"

"Stay still, you lost a lot of blood." She gently pushed him back.  
"Everyone is good. They are right there, in the opposite room," she reassured him.  
"They are not yet allowed to visit you," she pointed at them, "But they are constantly staring at you."

"Yeah?" He didn't look so surprised.  
"I think they can stop now..." He turned his head, looking through the glass doors that divided them, and nodded, reassuring them.

"Of course they can, but I doubt they will." She smiled.  
"How are you feeling?"

"I'm..."

"And don't try acting tough!" she interrupted him before he could say anything.

"All body aches..." he surrendered to her.  
"Head exploding..." he tried to settle in a more comfortable position. "Ahg.  
"Feel like I slept for a whole week..."

"Yeah, well, that's close enough," she said. "And you are going to sleep even more, the doctor ordered you to rest, a lot." She genuinely smiled.

"I thought you already learned to not mess up with what I say, right?" She noticed he clearly didn't want to quietly lay down.

"Ok, but" he searched something around the room,  
"Can I...can I just have some water before that,  
"Please?"

"Yes, of course you can," she promptly offered him a cup with a straw.  
'How did I not expect that request?' she though, a little ashamed.

He slightly lift, and extended his arm to take the glass from Davis hands.  
His hand-eye coordination wasn't very good at the time, and he almost dropped the cup, spilling some water on him and his bed.

"Damn it." Frustration and fatigue shined from his voice.

"It's ok. I got you," she said, helping him sitting more straight, and gently drying his chest.

"I, I'm good," he stopped her from helping further, and she had to retract her hand.  
"I'm-I'm sorry," he could barely look at her.  
"It's... awkward."

"You should know better," she stared severely at him.  
"Babysit you all is a big part of my job, right?" she offered him a big reassuring smile, then she silently held the cup of water for him. He succeeded in catching the straw with his trembling fingers, and put it between his lips.

"Small sips, don't..." She couldn't finish the sentence that he started roughly coughing, and a flush of pain invested his whole body.

"Ok, relax..." she adjusted his pillow to make him more comfortable.

"Just breath, and close your eyes. I'll be here when you wake up." She kept a hand on his chest until he finally decided to obey to her commands.

...

As soon as Davis was sure the kid was sleeping, she went to inform the Team on their friend improved conditions.

"Hey, how are you guys feeling? she said, entering their room.

"Trapped..." Sonny replied without even thinking.

"How's the kid?" they asked concerned.

"His temperature is still high," Davis said, "but he finally regained consciousness for a while."

She could clearly see the relief on the soldiers' faces.

"When will we be able to see him?" Ray asked, keeping scratching every part of his body he could reach.

"You in particular?" she gave him a strange look. "Probably not so soon...  
"Has the dog attacked you the fleas?"

"Hey!" Brock intervened offended, "My boy has no fleas!"

"It's just this stupid rush, I thought it was going away, but it keep driving me crazy..."

"Sorry man," she tried to not laugh at him.  
"Anyway, Clay just went back to sleep now, I'm afraid his recovery won't be that fast."

"It's ok," Jason said. "He will recover, that's what really matters."

"Yes, probably it won't be necessary to transfer him in our base in Germany, but we will have to wait at least a couple of weeks before we can take him home."

"So we will wait here, beside him," Jason assured.

"Well, you will be cleared to fly home as soon as the test's results are back, and then we will have to get back to work."

"No way I'm letting him here alone!"  
They all nodded.

"I knew you would say something like that." She smiled.  
"You all agree?"

"Of course. - Hell yes!" They said in unison.

"I'll try to arrange for that then," she confirmed.

...

"His temperature won't go down," the doctor said examining Clay's stats.

Davis was waiting patiently at the corner of the room, carefully listening them talking.

"Antibiotics aren't working, we have to change them," the doctor made a sign to the nurse, and she quickly replaced the IV.

"What's going on?" Davis asked following the doctor out the room.

Bravo Team approached the glass door to overhear the conversation.

"His reaction to the transfusion was sufficiently good. The bleeding stopped, and that is a good sign."

She looked straight at him waiting for the 'but' to come.

"But his overall conditions are not improving as well as expected.  
"His temperature is still very high, and his wound hasn't properly healed. If the new course of MEDs doesn't work, he is in high risk of developing septicemia."

She was right, the bad news was right there, ready for them.

"What can we do for him?" Jason asked.

"You stay exactly where you are," he severely said.

"But you said we are not contagious." Sonny objected.

"Yes, if the diagnosis is right. But you are not going anywhere near him until your exams are cleared. Unless, of course, you are willing to risk his life."

They all sighed helpless.

"Spenser knows you are here for him," Davis assured, "Don't ever doubt that."

"Yeah...of course," Jason said, making everyone a sign to go back to bed.

"Take care of him for us, uh?" he looked at Davis.

She nodded, and went strictly back to Clay's side.

...

 _Clay woke up in the desert.  
Alone and confused, he started wandering around._

 _He was about to collapse, when he saw something on the horizon._

 _He soon recognized the sight as familiar._

 _"The... Mission?" He muttered.  
"That's not where it's supposed to be..." his confusion was growing more and more._

 _He limped through his grandparents' tent._

 _"Baaba? Mamoo?  
"Anyone here?" but the entire mission was absolutely void._

 _He heard the sound of a helicopter, and he rushed out to see where it was coming from, but no one was there either._

 _"What..." he asked himself more and more perplexed._

 _He went back inside, and surprisingly, this time someone was waiting for him._

 _"Brian?" he had to sit down, incredulous.  
"Are you here to teach me some other lessons?"_

 _"I'm not here... you know that."_

 _"So what are you? Kind of my spirit animal?"_

 _Brian stared at him._

 _"Am I..." Clay continued, as the other remained silent. "Am I dead?"_

 _"Not yet, brother, not yet." His friend approached him._

 _"But you will be soon..." He put both hands on his shoulders, and looked strictly in his eyes, "...if you don't react!"_

 _"React to what?" Clay stared at him._

 _They suddenly heard the echo of explosions approaching their location._

 _"Fight this!" Brian insisted, "you have to wake up, now!"_

Clay gasped, instantaneously opening his eyes.

His heartbeat was growing faster and faster.

"Brian!" he yelled, trying to get up. "Brian?"

"Calm down Clay," Davis prevented him to fall from the bed.

"Where did he..." he looked around confused,  
"He was there...he was..."

"There's no one here, just me," she insisted, and pressed him back down, feeling his whole body shaking under her grab.

His heartbeat won't slow down, and he was gasping like if he was suffocating.

"Relax, concentrate on your respiratory rate. C'mon..." she firmly kept her hand on her friend's chest, feeling it hardly raising at every breath.

"Let's try with sniper breathing, ok?" she suggested, as her level of concern jumped up at maximum. She never saw him panicking like that, so she decided to call for help.

Inside Bravo's room Cerberus was napping near the door, when Clay's voice woke him. He suddenly got up, pointing at the opposite room.

"What's going on?" Sonny raised from his bed, hearing the familiar voice seeking for help.

Jason looked up, seeing a nurse rushing into their teammate's room.

They all jumped up, focusing on what was happening a few meters from their position.

"Hey!" Jason yelled, "What's happening there?"

They started wandering around their room. For sure waiting for answers wasn't what they did best.

From their position they could only see Davis and the nurse desperately trying to take care of the kid. They could hear him shouting now and then, without, however clearly understanding his words.

Fortunately, the nurse promptly administrated Clay a mild sedative, and it didn't take long before his parameter went back to normal.

"What I have to do?" he continued raving. "Tell me..." he started slowly drifting unconscious.

Davis took a deep breath, to maintain control on the situation. She hated watching one of her friends suffering like that.  
She tried to ease his pain softly drying the sweat from his brow and cheeks, and making him feel her presence, till he finally went back to deep sleep.

At the other end of the corridor, Jason was about to leave his room, totally indifferent to the rules he was supposed to be restricted to, when the nurse came toward them.

"What the hell has just happened there?" Ray said, concerned. "How is he?"

"He had a bit of a crisis," she explained.

"What kind of crisis?" Jason asked, with his brain suggesting a million things that could have gone wrong with his teammate.

"He was hallucinating, and his heartbeat raised way too high, so I had to sedate him."

"How is he now?"

"Your lady friend is keeping him calm," She glanced toward Davis.  
"He went back to sleep quietly for now, but his temperature is still dangerously high."

"So? What are you doing for him?" Sonny harshly asked.

"We are doing all we can," she sounded extremely irritated.  
"I have to go talk to the doctor now."

Bravo Team was so eager to see their friend that they tried to get out of their room.

"Do not make me block that door!" the nurse severely looked back to them. "You are not cleared yet."

They stepped back from the entrance, frustrated, not stopping to stare at the kid's room.

...

A couple of hours later another nurse came to Bravo Team's room to check on them.  
"Relax, we haven't forgot about you," she said, getting in.

"We're good, how is our teammate?" Ray pointed at the next room.

"Your friend is stable, but, as I said, right now I am here for you.  
"Let me establish if you are good for real."

She checked all their vitals, and asked them a few routine questions.

"All good, fever got down, and no new symptoms appeared."

"So we can visit our friend now?"

"Not yet, I'm afraid." She tried to smile at them, to make the news more acceptable.  
"Your test results will come back within a couple of days, then you will be cleared to leave this room."

"Wait, can we at least change back into normal clothes?"

"Yes, that you can do."

"Another two days stuck in here?" Sonny's tone was even more annoyed than usual.  
"Oh man, I can't handle this."

"Hey, at least we can get rid of this mortifying outfit." Jason look was still constantly directed toward the opposite room. "And also from here we can keep an eye on the kid."

"Wow," Blackburn approached. "It seems to be at the zoo," he teased them. "I've never seen so many fierce animals together in an only cage."

"News on the kid?" they ignored his comments.

The commander shook his head.  
"What about you guys?"

"We're good. Symptoms of infection almost disappeared." Ray replied, looking definitely better than the last time he saw him.

"We can use some clean clothes though." Jason stepped in.

"Of course," Blackburn nodded. "I'll make Davis bring you some."

"Yeah, I'm not sure I want her to poke around my laundry." Sonny said, with his usual skeptical expression.

"Well, I don't think she would be happy either." Trent smirked.

...

Davis was gently replacing cold packages on Clay's forehead when the commander stepped in.

"Hey," she said, greeting him.

"How is he doing?"

"Fever won't go down." She sighed.

Clay stirred, making the cold package fall on his side.

"Easy," Davis quickly put it back in place.

At that moment a nurse approached, to replace the empty IV's.  
"Clean blood supplies are here," she put up a bag of blood. "This will help his immune system improve a bit."

"Thanks," Davis said.

"Buka taa... buka n dammaa..." Clay mumbled.

Blackburn watched Davis puzzled.

"I don't know, Eric,  
"He is constantly talking like this... I can't understand half of what he says." She paused.

"And I think is even seeing ghosts.."

"Ghosts?" Blackburn replied, clueless.

"Yeah, do you remember the kid we lost during the last Green Team?"

"Brian Armstrong, of course."

"He keeps invoking his name." They both sighed.

"Buka n dammaa..." Clay muttered again, drawing their attention back to him.

"He is asking to not be left alone," the nurse stepped in, translating for them.

The two soldiers looked at each other, heartbroken.

"We are right here kid," the commander assured him, slightly tapping him on the shoulder.

"You'll never be left alone," Davis added.  
"Your family is here," she insisted.

Clay could only hear distant voices, not able to recognize them, or understand what they were saying.

 _"Brian, wait for me!" he yelled. "I want to come with you." he took his friend's arm, holding him back._

 _"Don't be silly brother. You should know where I am going, that's not your time yet." Brian stopped and looked at him, freeing his arm.  
"Concentrate on the present."_


	7. 7 Trying harder

"The MEDs aren't working," the nurse said to the doctor, while removing the now warm package from Clay's forehead.  
"His temperature won't stop climbing."

"His brain won't tolerate an ulterior increase. Prepare the ice bath," the doctor ordered.

Blackburn saw the nurse rushing out, while the doctor continued measuring his patient's vitals.

"What's going on?" he looked at Clay, alarmed. His cheeks were flushed, and his hair completely drenched.

"We urge to decrease your friend's temperature."

'That's nothing new,' the commander thought, annoyed.

"To put it in simple words," the doctor continued, noticing his reaction, "If he goes on like this, his brain will fry."

"So... what do we do?" The commander noticed Clay's body was shaking, and his sleep was restless.

"Cold packages aren't enough, we will try immerging his whole body directly in the ice."

"You have tried to abate his temperature for days, why trying this only now?"

"Bleeding and being immersed in water don't get along very well.  
"Now, let me do my job." the doctor made Blackburn step back, and continued taking care of his patient.

 _Clay awakened surrounded by fire with an unbearable heat suffocating him._

 _He felt trapped by the flames, not able to go through them._

 _'This must be hell,' he thought, not finding a way out._

"I'm in hell..." he whispered, tossing in his bed.

...

Every time a doctor came near Clay's room, Bravo Team would instantly jump up from their beds, and ask for news.

This time, noticing the nurse rushing out, without even glancing at them, they instantly knew something was up.

"Why is everyone so eager now?" Jason started getting anxious.

"Don't know, but I don't like it, Boss" Trent sighed.

Sonny approached the glass door, trying to peer in the kid's room, but the doctor's position was blocking his sight.

They shortly saw the nurse coming back, pulling a large bronze bathtub, filled with ice.

"Ice bath, the kid's temperature must have become unsustainable," Trent explained.

At that moment Davis approached. "What's all this commotion here? What's going on?"

"Wish I knew, but instead we're stuck in here!" Jason stated, really starting to freak out.

"Alright...  
"I'll find out." She handed them the bag with their clean clothes, and rushed to learn their teammate's condition.

...

Davis leaned out into Clay's room, and found the doctor trying to strip him from his gown, with the kid hardly opposing at his touch.

"You have to let me do this!" the doctor tried to calm him down, unsuccessfully.

"No... no!" Clay was heavily panting, disoriented.

"Let them do their job Spenser!" Blackburn ordered him, but it was all useless.

"Let us try," Davis got in, glancing at her commander.

The doctor stepped back, leaving the two soldiers some space to act.

"It's ok, it's just us," she took his shaking hands,  
"C'mon, relax," she softly reassured him, passing a hand trough his hairs.  
"We're here for you."

"Uh...no..." he continued agitating.

"Shh, it's all good," She made a sign to the commander, and he jumped in, holding the kid still. "Trust us." She whispered in his hears.

Clay slightly opened his eyes, and stopped opposing, so Davis could successfully remove his gown.

"Alright," the doctor approached them again. "Step out now."  
He carefully started packing his patient side, to make sure the wound would not come in direct contact with the water.

As soon as Clay's side was properly sealed, they needed to move him into the tub.

"Would you give us a hand, please?" the doctor asked Blackburn.

He nodded, moving to the kid's side, and they carefully lifted him, and immersed him in the ice bath.

As soon as his bare skin touched the first ice cube, Clay gasped, pulling out strengths they didn't know he had left. He started hardly fighting to get out, battling to free from his caretakers' hands.

"Hey, stop it," the doctor attempted to block him.

The freezing water was spilling everywhere.

"Calm down," Blackburn forced him into the ice, feeling the kid's body shaking and strongly rebelling under his catch.

 _Clay found himself immersed in the ocean, desperately trying to reach a small boat a few meters away from him._

 _"I thought you already learned this lesson, but you are too stubborn, uh?"_

 _"Brian, please help me! I can't...I can't swim any longer."_

 _"Then don't," he said. "Don't you remember what I told you during SERE?"_

 _Clay was struggling to stay above the water level._

 _"You just give up, and say goodbye..." the boat started to go further, leaving Clay all alone, fighting for his life._

...

Bravo Team was painfully watching the whole scene from their confined location.

"I'm not staying here, sitting on my hands anymore!" Jason got out of the room, and rushed toward his teammate's side.

A nurse tried to block him, but the doctor gave him his permission to come in.

"Yo, Clay, it's me, calm down." He knelt by his side, but he wouldn't stop fighting.

The whole Bravo Team broke the isolation, and stood by the door.

 _"You just give up, and say goodbye... let the past behind,"_ he kept hearing Brian's voice in the distance, till Jason took his hand, and his word finally reached him.

"B-boss?" he bubbled.

"Yeah, yes it's me." Jason said, relieved, "You can relax now, ok?"

Clay reluctantly stopped opposing to the care.  
"Well, the kid sure is a combatant..." the doctor exhaled, stepping back.

Davis looked down, ice and water were spilled everywhere on the floor, and everyone that came in contact with Clay was wet from head to toe.  
"It's too hot in here, the ice has already melted," she said, noticing the bathtub was half empty.

"I'm on it," another nurse arrived with a bucket of new-made ice cubes, and refilled the tub.

As the ice came in contact with him, Clay startled, and tried to oppose again, but Jason and Blackburn prevented him from badly reacting.

They could feel the tension in the kid's muscle, and his body strongly shivering.  
His natural reflex was trying to get up, but they couldn't let him do that.

"Hold on, Spenser," the commander reassured him. "Your mission his not quite over yet."

Blackburn slightly loosened his grab, without, however completely letting the kid go. He maintained his hands leaned on Clay's shoulders, he knew the kid needed to feel a friendly presence there.

At that point Clay was fighting to keep his eyes open, but he couldn't, and quickly drifted away. Jason had to sustain his head, preventing him to drown.

"What the..." concern filled the room as the water in the bathtub turned red.

"Damn it!" the doctor said, "he must have reopened up his wound with all those sudden movements.  
"Pull him out! The dressing is not holding!"

The two soldiers put him back on the bed, and a nurse quickly started to dry him, before the doctor could actually take care of patching up the wound again.

"It's all gonna be ok," another nurse said them,  
"Give us space to work," she resolutely forced the three soldiers out the room.

"And you," she looked at Bravo Team, "All of you," she specified, turning to Jason, "have to go back in your room, now, please."

They had to obeyed, but their attention was firmly on the kid's conditions.

...

"Oh, man! Why has something always have to go wrong with our long deployments." Sonny was constantly complaining.

"Well, if you haven't noticed, our job is pretty dangerous." Trent replied, facing him.

Frustration was starting to get the best on them.  
The atmosphere in the room was growing so heavy that tension could be cut with a knife.

"Enough guys!" Jason's tone was exasperated.

Fortunately, the doctor came out of Clay's room, and their attention was brought back to the kid's conditions.

"Your friend is stable now, his wound is clear and the bleeding stopped," the doctor reassured them.  
"I administered him another bag of blood, and we will continue putting on him cold compresses, but it seems his temperature is finally starting to go down."

"Thanks doctor." Blackburn said.

"Can we get back in now?" Davis said.

"Yes, of course, as soon as the nurse finish to clean the room."

"Can we go too?" Ray tried, without expecting too much.

"What happened before was an exception, you have still to wait here."

Bravo Team members all rolled their eyes, sighing.

"Uhm, Eric, you should probably go get changed," Davis pointed out as the commander's clothes were soaked with bloody water.

He looked down, surprised, as he haven't noticed that before,  
"I just need to assure my man is ok first."

As soon as the nurse stepped out, Davis and Blackburn got in, while Cerberus took advantage of the general concern to sneak in the room with them.  
He settled at the bottom of Clay's bed, making Davis smile.

Blackburn watched the kid sleeping soundly, finally taking some good rest.  
"Ok, you're right, I really need to get changed," he carefully tapped Clay's shoulder, and left the room.

Davis sat near the bed, out of breath, as the adrenaline flow she had before settled down, leaving her completely exhausted.

The nurse came back with new cold packages, and startled seeing the dog in the room, dropping them on the floor.  
"He can't be here!" she harshly said.

"I know," Davis replied, helping her picking up the compresses, "but I'm afraid if he doesn't want to move, he won't move."

"C'mon," she timidly tried to make him leave,  
"Go..." she made some goofy sign, but the dog completely ignored her.

"I told you." Davis smirked.

Brock was watching from the other room, amused by the whole scene.

The nurse tried again, approaching him, but Cerberus growled at her, so she had to step back.  
"Ok... I-I think he can stay for a while..."  
She heard Brock chuckling from the other room, "I guess none of you can help here, right?

"Sorry, we're stuck in here..." Brock replied, arousing hilarity among his teammates.

...

"I really can't understand why we're stuck in here!" Sonny was aimlessly walking around the room.  
"And this thing is really unnecessary," he said, removing the arm's brace he was forced to wear.

"Put it back on," Trent stepped in.

"Nah..."

"Hey! Do you want to be on our next mission with us, or be stuck at home doing boring rehab exercise?" Trent tried to convince him.

"Do as he sais!" Jason ordered. "We already are one man down." They immediately turned their attention back to their still unconscious teammate.

"Ok, ok. At your command Master Chief." Sonny rolled his eyes, putting the thing back on.

"That's a smart move, big man." The nurse came in, with some papers in her hands.  
"I heard you were eager to be cleared, am I wrong?"

"Are those our tests' results?" Ray jumped up, maybe with a little too rush, drawing his teammates' worried looks on him, and consequently trying to pretend he didn't lose his balance for a little moment.

"They are." The nurse smiled.

"So?" everyone anxiously stared at her.

"Well, diagnosis has been confirmed, you contracted Dengue fever," she looked at the papers.  
"Mr. Perry had obviously pulled the short straw, but the rash has almost disappeared, as well as the fever. There is nothing that will prevent a complete remission."

"That's good," Jason put a hand on his friend's shoulder. "What about the rest of us?"

"Well, you three were asymptomatic, or with just a light fever, you probably already have recovered."

They sighed in relief.  
"So we can go see our friend now?" They were already headed to Clay's room.

"Not so fast, I'm afraid." She stopped them. "You'll have to stay here a couple more days."

"No way! You said we're ok!" Jason protested.

"Hospital policy, you have to pass a last blood test before you're cleared for good."

Frustration started taking the best of them.

"Don't worry, it won't take that long, I promise."

"Wait a minute, did you say: 'you three'?" Sonny pointed out doing the math.

"Yes, all of you had Dengue, but you Mr. Quinn."

"Wait, what? Did I have something worse?" he approached her, nervous.  
"I feel good... am I not?"

"Woo, slow down big man," she kindly smiled at him. "You are perfectly fine, you are the only one whose result came back completely clean."

"Really?" Everyone sounded truly surprised.

"Stop there, you're saying I've been stuck in here for days just for nothing?" his tone showed all his disappointment.

"I'm afraid yes, your only physical problem is the dislocated shoulder, but it will be ok in a couple of weeks," she looked at him in his eyes, "If you stick to doctor's orders."

Sonny rolled his eyes.

The nurse turned to the other soldiers, "Regarding his mental status, though..."

"Yeah, I'm afraid we had to keep him as he is." Trent added, and they all laughed.

"Right, mock me all you want, but I was right about the damn mosquitoes.  
"And now I'm out of here." He quickly sneaked out the door.

"Wait, you have to sign this..."

"Don't worry, he is not leaving the hospital, just the room," Jason reassured her, watching him hurry toward the opposite room.

...

Sonny froze on Clay's doorway, watching Davis drying his forehead.

'C'mon, here we go,' he tough, taking a deep breath.

"Hey!" Davis acknowledged his presence. "Did you break out of the isolation?"

"No, um..." he slowly approached his friend's bed. "I got cleared..." he was painfully staring at his unconscious friend.

"You only?" she asked, looking at the opposite room, without even trying to hide her concern.

"Just for now, it appears I didn't get the damn infection," his voice was distant and distracted.  
"The others will be released tomorrow, or the day after... I-I think..."

"Hey," she put a hand on his back. "I know it's hard for you seeing him like this," she forced a smile. "But he will be better soon, you'll see."

"He'll better be," Sonny sat near the bottom of the bed, starting petting Cerberus. "There's no way I'm gonna break that pretty girl's heart he has at home, not bringing him back in one piece."

She nodded, looking alternately at the other two soldiers.

"By the way, you really look like crap." Sonny pointed out. "Why don't you go take a nap, I'll stay with the sleeping beauty here.  
"Not that I have anything better to do, anyway," he looked down at his slinging arm.

"You don't fool me, you know?" Davis looked straight at him. "I'm sure that somewhere behind that bogeyman look there is a sensitive soul."

"Nah, you are too smart to believe that." He smiled.  
"And of course, when we bring him back home, he will be own us at least a case of good beer."

They both stared at Clay.

"Yeah, that's it." Sonny said, "I'm sure that's the main reason he hasn't regained full consciousness yet. He just doesn't want to pay for the drinks."

"Yeah, ok..." she chuckled.  
"He is in good hands, well, in a good hand at least," she teased him, before going out.

As soon as she walked away, he turned is complete attention on his unconscious teammate.

"C'mon, pretty boy, open your eyes.  
"Man, I never thought I would say this, but hell, I miss messing with you..."


	8. 8 Taking the leap

A.N. Thank you for all the kind reviews I've been receiving! Glad that you are enjoying reading this as much as I'm enjoying writing it.

* * *

Clay slowly and painfully opened his eyes, unable to move a single muscle besides his eyelids.  
Sonny was sat next to him, absorbed in playing with his phone.

Clay closed back his eyes for a good moment before he found the strength to say anything.

"Is..." he forced his voice out. "Is this... hell?"

"Hey, sleeping beauty! What took you so long? We were waiting!"  
Sonny chuckled, as Cerberus jumped on the bed, and leant at Clay's left side, with his snout relied on the kid's chest.

"Hey buddy," Clay tried to pet him, but he was too weak to even lift his arm, so he just put his hand on the dog's back, and stood like that.

"You know kid, you made everyone lose sleep this time," he looked toward the Bravo Team's room.  
"I mean, you know..." he cleared his throat, "Not me, but everyone else..."

"Yeah, right," Clay closed his eyes again for a few seconds. "Sorry 'bout that."  
"Are they ok?" he tried to lift, but he couldn't.

"They're good." Sonny assured, pointing at the next room, from where the rest of Bravo Team was watching them, relieved to see he was finally awake.  
"They all took this Dengue fever, but they're in remission now. They will be released soon."

"Ohw... my head..." Clay couldn't keep his eyes open, as the light was bothering him.

"Yeah, you caught that fever too."

"Did I?" he reopened his eyes, confused.  
'But I already had that... or didn't I?' he thought, while his brain was still trying to catch up with the situation.

"Doctor said you had a rare reaction to it.  
"You're special pretty boy!" Sonny chuckled.

Clay closed his eyes again, fatiguing to swallow.

"Alright, it's time a doctor checks on you," Sonny said, noticing the kid was in pain, and pushed the call button.

"Didn't you use to avoid doctors?" Clay managed to say.

"Oh, yeah. But you're me," he smiled at him, "and you are not even close to be as strong as I am!"

...

A nurse arrived in a couple of minutes.

"You're awake! That's good," she said, cautiously trying to approach Clay's bed.

"C'mon step down buddy," he ordered to Cerberus, noticing the fear in the nurse's eyes.  
"It's ok." he nodded, making a sign to the nurse.

"Thanks, I see you're feeling better," she started timidly checking on him, while the dog was constantly staring at her.  
"I'm-I'm sorry sir," she turned to Sonny, "Can you take him somewhere else, please?"

He smiled, and took Cerberus to the Bravo Team's room, as the doctor was getting in Clay's.

"Good boy," Brock started petting the dog as soon as Sonny brought him in.  
"You took good care of our kid, right?"

"How is he?" Jason immediately asked.

"Tired, sore, and seriously beaten up, but he is now fully awake and conscious."

"Good," they all sighed.

"Man! Why the hell are you the only one who can get out of this damn room?" Ray was really starting to lose control.

"Because mosquitoes don't like me?" Sonny shrugged.

"Yeah, no one does!" Ray yelled at him, as his friend sneaked out again.

Sonny waited the doctor outside Clay's room, so the rest of Bravo Team could hear the response too.  
"How is he doing doc?"

"His temperature is almost back to normal, but the wound isn't properly healed yet, we have to wait, and see how his body reacts."

"So he's not out of the woods yet?" Sonny asked concerned.

"I'm afraid not, but he is young and strong. Just give him some time, let him rest."

"Can I go back in?"

"Of course, he already asked for you." the doctor nodded.  
"And, um, sir?" He drew Sonny's attention. "Try to keep him awake for a while, we have to make sure his cognitive functions are good."

...

"You already miss me?" Sonny said, entering Clay's room.

"Not exactly man... it just appears you are all I got right now..." He distressingly chuckled.

"Well, I'm not happy to be stuck in here with you more than you are, kid. At least if I want some fresh air, **I** can go out now." He glanced back at his teammates.

"Fresh air? here?" Clay pointed put with a smirk.

"Yeah, right." Sonny smiled back at him, settling comfortably in the chair next to his bed.

Suddenly Clay started to cough, feeling like every bone in his body wanted to jump out of his skin, and his head was ready to explode.

"Easy kid, easy" Sonny got up, and helped him slightly lift, using his only good hand.  
"Here, drink this," he offered him a cup of water.

"I'm cool..." Clay refused his friend's offer, and attempted to take a deep breath, but that made him cough even more.

"Can you just for once do what I tell you, please!" Sonny made him accept the glass.  
"Here you go, small sips. C'mon, swallow."

"You're so bully!" Clay laid back on his bed, sighing.  
"Uh...Thanks, by the way..."

"No problem kid, but you will own me a case of beer for this, you know right?"

Clay silently nodded, exhausted.

"Hey, do you want me to contact Stella, or..." Sonny was trying to keep him conscious as the doctor requested.

"Oh, God, no!" Clay painfully said. "You're not allowed to talk to my girlfriend alone, man."

Sonny stared at him, pretending to be offended.

"I don't want her to worry." Clay admitted.

"You should have thought about that before you listed her as your next of kin, then." Davis interrupted them, entering the room.

"Hey..." he greeted her, not really knowing how to reply.

"It's good to see you awake, how are you doing?" Davis turned to Sonny before Clay could even process the question,  
"Is this like the last time he was conscious, or he's better for real now?"

"Good morning to you too, Lisa," Sonny said, annoyed she was ignoring him.

Davis smiled, shaking her head.

"I think I'm better than the last time you saw me," Clay finally had the chance to reply. "Am I not?"

"Well, the only way you could be worse, is you to be dead..." her tone become more serious.

"I got pretty close, uh?" Clay sighed.

"Oh, yeah, you surely did." she confirmed.

Clay softly coughed, clearing his throat.  
"So... did you already informed Stella?"

"Well, actually no, but maybe your father did."

"My what? Why would he know about this?" disappointment transpired from his voice.

"Oh, em, I had to make Adam call him." She sat on the edge of his bed.  
"I'm sorry, but you were in no conditions to give the doctor any information on your medical history, and he really needed some."

"Well, you seem to not know the right person to call..." Clay heavily rested his head on the pillow.

"Yep, we acknowledged that," she put her hand on his arm. "But your mother could help a little bit more."

"You talked to my mother too?" Now his tone was seriously uneasy.  
"Oh, man... she is gonna kill me for all this..."

The other two soldiers smiled at him.

"Agh..." Clay rushed his hand on his right side, feeling a sudden sharp pain.

"What's wrong?" Davis jumped up, alarmed.

"It's...nothing," he took a couple of deep breaths to make the pain go away.  
"I'm good now." He leaned back, closing his eyes.

"Ok, I think you had enough for now." Sonny stepped in. "You should go back to sleep."

"Wow, I never thought this words could possibly get out of my mouth, but," Davis smiled, softly passing her hand on Clay's shoulder.  
"Sonny's right."

"Alright... but only If Sonny goes take that _fresh air_ he so desperately wanted to taste."

"Ok, kid," he chuckled, avoiding Davis' puzzled look.  
"As soon as you are out, I am too," he assured.

...

Suddenly Clay started tossing a little in his sleep.

"Hey," Davis gently grabbed both his arms, blocking his body, concerned he could reopen up his wound.

 _"What do you mean you're going to enroll in the navy?" Clay's mother showed all her disappointment._

 _"Exactly what I said mom. I'm gonna be a Navy Seal."_

 _"Like your father?" she said incredulous. "I thought I raised you better then that..."_

 _"You...what?" he turned the other way, to not see her expression, beating his tongue. He knew he couldn't bring back the old -you didn't really raised me, your parents did the hard job- talk._

 _"Ok..." he took a deep breath, taking her hands in his. "I'm not like him, you know that.  
"And I need to prove that he could do better, if he only would to.  
" I'm gonna be the man he never was, mom."_

 _"It is a dangerous path my dear baby." She looked away._

 _"I know..." he sighed.  
"But I saw in person what those men can do in the country in need. I want to be one of them."_

 _"Oh, son, you could be whatever you want to..." his mother's eyes were full of tears._

"It's ok," Davis softly passed her hand on his hairs, trying to reassure him, without awakening him.  
"You're safe."

"Mmm..." he muttered, without opening his eyes.

"Shh. Go back to sleep." Davis tried to sense his temperature with her wrist, but it was normal.  
'Ok, it's just a nightmare...' she thought, half relieved.

As soon as Clay calmed down, she sat back, and glanced toward the Bravo Team's room. She could clearly tell everyone was meditating a plan to evade from their 'prison'.  
'Yeah, I know how you're feeling...' she thought.

...

Davis was lost in her thoughts for a while, when Clay's voice woke her up.

"You're still here..."

"Of course I am!" She smiled.

"It's not necessary...I can..."

"Do you see your teammates right there?" She interrupted him. "I received clear orders to not let you alone."

He smiled, thinking of the way he could ask her what he really had in mind.

"Um...hey...Did I...say something strange," he cleared his throat. "I mean, when I was out of myself... did I say something odd?"

"Well, not really. At least for the parts I could understand. You were pretty lost in your memories."

"I-I saw strange things..."

"I bet you did! You were really... lost." She didn't know how to reassure him.

"I mean, like...ghosts..."

"Sorry I don't really know what do you want me to say."

"Nothing...I was just... at some point, I thought I wasn't gonna make it..." he couldn't look directly at her, and glanced toward his other teammates. "They don't need to know!"

"What? What do you mean by that?" she asked, apprehensively.

"Don't bother, it doesn't really matter..." He forced out a not-so-convincing smile.

She tried to look him straight, waiting patiently for him to finish his sentence.

"You don't really need to know..."

"Know what?" she tried to force him speak, as he clearly didn't want to explain himself.  
"You can trust me, you know that!"

"That I desperately wanted to follow my ghosts. To-to stay with them and just... give up for good." he finally spit it out, bottoms up.

Davis soundly exhaled.  
"You were exhausted," she tried to reassure him. "I'm sure it was the fever talking, not you."

"Yeah... sure"  
"I just felt so lost there... and lonely..." The monitors he was attached to started to beep more frequently.

"Ok, calm down now." Davis' voice was full of concern.  
"Just breathe, ok? I'm right here with you, I'm not going anywhere."

"Yeah," he tried to slow his respiratory rate.  
"Thank you."

She gave him a big warm smile.

"And, I'm sorry, for putting this on you. I really shouldn't..."

"I'm here for that." she confirmed.  
"And your teammates," she pointed at them. "They will always be there for you. They have proven it a lot of times, didn't they?"

"Yeah, I think my visions tried to remind me that all the time..." Clay nodded, overwhelmed by the embarrassment.

"You should go back to sleep now, ok?" she was a little confused, but, noticing his discomfort, she hadn't the heart to ask for explanation.

...

Cerberus got up, as the doctor came in Bravo Team's room.

"Something wrong?" Jason immediately asked, glancing at Clay's room.

"On the contrary."

"Are we free to go?" Ray jumped up.

"Yes, you are being discharged."

"So are we clear?" Trent asked. "I mean, cleared for duty... no more test, or anything, right?"

"Yes," the doctor had to follow them out the room, as they promptly got toward their injured teammate.  
"But I suggest you all take a couple more days of rest, before you jump back in action, especially you Mr. Perry," he blocked the path to Clay's room.

"No problem, we're staying here till the kid can come home with us," Jason reassured him.  
"So... Can we see him now?" he eagerly asked, trying to make his way into the room.

"Yes, but just for a few minutes, understood?"

"Copy that, doc." They all nodded, and the doctor had to let them go.

"Hey there," Davis greeted them as they got in. "Are you finally out of containment?"

"Finally! You can say it loud." Jason said with a bit too much enthusiasm.

"What's all this chaos?" Clay interrupted them, opening his eyes.

"Hey kid, sorry we woke you." Jason approached him.

"It's ok... I already had too much sleep for today, and for all the next week to be honest, so..."

"Yeah, you sure did." Trent smiled.

"I-I don't remember if I thanked you for saving my ass back in the jungle, so... thank you."

"It's our job." Jason stated.  
"Of course you own us at least a case of beer." He tapped his fist on Clay's shoulder.

"Of course," Davis chuckled.

"Yeah, It's really good to see you again in yourself, kid." Ray added, with everyone else approval.

"Well, about that... I'm sorry if..."

"Sorry for what?" Trent stepped into the conversation. "For exchanging Jace for your grandfather?"

"Wha? Did I-I really do that?" he tried to remember.

They all laughed at his embarrassed expression.

"Don't worry kid," Jason assured, "You are going to repay me with..."

"A case of beer," everyone said in unison.

"Aw, ok, don't make me laugh," Clay chuckled.

...

"Time's up soldiers." A nurse leaned into the room.  
"Only a couple of guests allowed now. And the dog really needs to go."

"One minute, they're all leaving." Jason reassured her.

"Excuse me, 'they all'?" Davis looked at him puzzled.

"Yeah, you should take a break too, I'm gonna stay."

"Ok, guys, this is not really necessary..." Clay tried to object.

"Quiet kid, the adults are talking here." Ray interrupted him.  
"I'll stay too, doctor wasn't anxious for me to leave the hospital anyway."

"Alright," Jason stated. "The rest of you, out of my sight, now."

Trent and Brock approached Clay, to fist bump with him before going out, trying to not let their real emotions transpire.

"See you later then," Davis said, and they all left the room.

"Hey, are you guys really ok?" Clay asked as the three of them were alone in the room.

"C'mon, kid, look at you!" Ray said. "We need to ask you that question, not the opposite."

"Can't help..." he shrugged.

"We're all cleared, except Sonny, his arm will be operative in a few days though."

"Good." Clay soundly exhaled,  
"So you're going back home, uh?" he asked, trying to hide his fear of being left behind.

"You will not get rid of us that easily!" Jason reassured him.

"Of course not!" Ray confirmed. "We are all going back together."

...

Jason was silently observing Clay sleep, when he noticed that Blackburn was trying to draw his attention from the hallway.

"Hey, need to talk," the commander said low voice, to not awake the kid.  
"You too," he pointed at Ray.

They got out of the room, finding the whole team there.

"What happened?" Jason asked, puzzled.

"I was told you were cleared for active duty, right? Blackburn said.

"Yeah, all but Sonny." Bravo Team's perplexity was growing.

"Then I have bad news for you." Eric continued, feeling all the looks on him.  
"We have to come back to work, right now."

"What?" Jason was incredulous. "I'm not leaving Spenser here."

"Alfa team is in trouble. Their mission in Ghana went south."

"We're two men down, we can't help them like this."

"They really need it, and we are the only once who can make there in time." Blackburn stated.  
"And you won't be two men down, I'm coming with you."

"You?" They looked at him puzzled.

"Yeah me! In the meantime Sonny and Davis will stay here with Spenser."

"Yeah, babysitting is not really on my chord... but I'll do whatever he needs," Sonny confirmed.

Blackburn looked straight at Jason. "See, he is not gonna be here alone."

"I don't like this." Jason shocked his head.

"Well, those are our orders."

"Just go guys!" Clay's voice sounded from his room, drawing their attention.

"You heard us?" They approached him.

"You are not going to leave someone else in trouble just to stay here staring at me sleeping!" Clay painfully lifted in a sitting position to be more convincing with his statement.

"He's right Jace," Ray stepped in.

"Yeah, ok. We'll do that." Jason moved at Clay's side. "But you'd better be back on your feet the next time I see you, ok?"

"Of course I will." Clay nodded, greeting all his teammates, forcing himself to hide his discomfort.


	9. 9 Down the hill

Clay slightly lifted from his laid down position, holding his breath.  
"Oww..." he gasped.

"Hey," Davis turned to him.  
"What's up?" she started to stand up from her chair. "Something wrong?"

"I..." he laboriously swallowed.

"What can I do?" She noticed he was having some troubles, but she didn't know how to help him.

"I think I'm gonna..." he couldn't finish his warning, that he had to turn the other way, sticking out from the edge of the bed, and puked all over the floor.

"Woo!" Sonny got back in the room at that moment, with two bottles of water in his hand. "That's not nice, kid!"  
He turned to Davis, "Is he ok?"

'Do I seem ok to you?' Clay made a little attempt to reply by himself, but the nausea stroke him again, violently, and he couldn't say a single word.

"I thought the infection was gone." Sonny continued, while Davis reached out the call button.

"I think this is just the result of his first decent meal in the past two weeks," she said, offering Clay a tissue.

"Thanks," he whispered.

"Sorry, what decent meal?" Sonny glanced over the half eaten lunch that was still on the table.

"I can only guess his stomach wasn't that ready for solid food,"

Clay cleaned his mouth, painfully swallowing.  
'Guys, I'm here,' he thought of jumping into the conversation, as his friends were ignoring him, but the possibility that not just the words would come out of his mouth, if he risked opening it, made him change his mind.

"Oh, yeah, you only say that because you haven't tasted their food yet. If you had, you should know this would happen."

"Agh..." Clay put his hands on his wounded side.

"Here," Davis handed him a bowl, a few seconds before he started throwing up again.

"It's ok kid, let it all out. You'll feel better then." Sonny said, while Davis softly massaged Clay's back. "C'mon."

"Oh, my..." the nurse got in, and approached her patient.  
"I got him," she turned to the two soldiers. "You should wait outside while I clean up this mess."

Davis and Sonny looked at each other, as they were reading each other's mind.  
They agreed: they were not going anywhere.

"I'll take good care of him," she added, noticing their looks. "I promise."

"Please...guys..." Clay was desperately trying to swallow his guts back.  
"I really don't need an audience for this..." he kept his breath, hardly trying to not puke again in front of them.

Seeing him like that, they could just silently nod, and reluctantly got out.

"Is this how you feel when you have a child?" Davis asked as soon they reached the corridor.

"Are you really asking that to **me**?" Sonny erased his eyebrows.

She chuckled, putting a hand on his shoulder, trying hard to not glance back in the room, and leave the kid the privacy he wanted.

...

Bravo Team was 20 minutes away from landing in Ghana, but before that, they had to make sure everything was still right with their friend at the hospital.

"Hey Sonny, how's the kid doing?" Jason said over the phone.

'Actually, Boss, it's not really a good time,' Sonny said, walking down the corridor to not hear the sound of Clay puking in the distance.

"What do you mean? What happened?" Jason's tone was alarmed.

'Don't worry, it's not such a big deal. They just tried to feed him with that crap food they gave us for days, and his stomach didn't reacted well. That's all.'

"Yeah?"

'Sure, he'll be fine in no time. You focus on getting our other men back.'

"Next time you should try give him our military rations..." Jason suggested. "Incredible to say, but they're way better than that thing they call food there."

'Well, I can't actually deny that.' Sonny chuckled.

"I have to go, let me know if something changes with the kid."

'Of course Boss, and be careful out there.' Sonny said, right before Jason hanged up.

"You sure you ok?" Blackburn asked, to make sure they could focus on their current mission.  
"I know I already told you a hundred times, but when things get too personal, is then that men got hurt." He looked straight at Jason. "And we really can't afford that, especially now."

"Those are our orders, right?" he stared at him.  
"Spenser was right, they are our brothers too, we are not gonna leave them behind."

"Ok, let's do this." The commander took out a map.  
"Listen up!" He called for everyone's attention.  
"Enemy's army ambushed Alfa Team almost two days ago, trapping them inside this old gold mine."

All Bravo listened carefully to him.

"They didn't engage yet, hoping that with minimum cover and few munitions left, our men would easily surrender."

"But it obviously didn't happen, right?" Ray stepped in.

"Hell no," Blackburn confirmed.  
"But now they are losing their patience, and decided to give it a go, and drive them out. At this point Alfa don't have much time left."

"Alright," Jason took the lead. "Ray, Trent, you'll climb this hill, and settle here, and here." He pointed at the map. "We need cover from the highs."

The two nodded, checking their rifles.

"When you're in position, the rest of us go down, take the bad guys by surprise, and free our men."

"Nice and easy, uh?" Blackburn said.

They all nodded.

"Alright, we're there, prepare for the landing."

As soon as the plane was secured on the ground, Bravo Team got out, all equipped, and ready to jump to Alfa's rescue.

...

"You ok?" Davis asked, noticing Clay was clenching the sheets in his fists.

"Mmm" He couldn't pronounce a single word.

"Are you still nauseous?"

"Uh-um."

"Are you gonna get sick again?" she asked, apprehensive, offering him the bowl.

"Not...sure..." he said, as the taste of bile filled his mouth.  
He tried to move into a more comfortable position.  
"No, um," he panted, as his lungs couldn't be completely filled by the air. "I-I'm fine..."

"Oh, no. You're not! I'll go get someone," she said, eagerly getting out of the room.

"What's going on, kid?" Sonny got closer to him.  
"C'mon, out with it."

"I'm ok... I'm..." He curled in the bed, not finding a good position to rest. "F-fine..."

Sonny knew that if the kid was whining like that, something serious was going on.

'C'mon, C'mon...' He thought, staring at the corridor, frustrated he wasn't able to do anything for his friend.  
He sighed as Davis was back with some help.

"Let me take a look," the nurse said,  
"Would you?" she made Sonny a sign to give her some space.

The two soldiers watched her noting Clay's vitals, and examine his body.

"So? What's wrong?" Sonny asked, impatient.

"It's probably his kidneys, but we have to do some more tests."

Clay looked at her, confused and in pain, unable to say anything nor oppose in any way.

"Now, step out, please." She indicated the door.

"Not going anywhere!" Sonny's apprehension was concrete.

"He's not urinating as much as he should," she explained, tacking the almost empty urine bag that was hanged at the bottom of Clay's bed in her hands. "And the color isn't right." She pointed at its little content.  
"I have to check if his catheter is working right." She looked severely at them.

"Ok, um." Sonny cleared his throat, noting how much Clay was embarrassed.  
"We're gonna be right there if you need us..." he pointed the corridor.

"Yeah, good call, let's go." Davis pushed him out.

Clay tried to nod, and appear in control of himself, even if he actually wasn't.

"I'm sorry, I know this is not the most comfortable thing, but I have to take a look, ok?" The nurse said, removing the sheets.  
"Just try to stay still," she lifted his gown, "And relax..."

'Yeah, relax she sais...' Clay looked away, visibly humiliated, trying to concentrate on something else.

 _"First deployment, uh?" His team leader sat next to him. "How does that feel?"_

 _"Good.  
"I think."_

 _"It's ok to be nervous the first time." They stared at each other._

 _"I'm not..." he knew his attempt to seem confident didn't go as he planned._

 _"Yeah, it's ok, but it's better if that feeling stays on this plane, ok?" he pat him on his shoulder.  
"Don't let it land with us."_

 _Clay looked around, at his new teammates._

 _"Sleep over it, it helps." One of them said, guessing he was a little lost. "Did you know how to place a hammock, right?" he smiled at him._

...

"Alfa, this is Bravo One" Jason took his radio. "Cavalry is here."

'Thank God, Bravo!' Derek immediately answered.  
It was clear from just this couple words that Alfa were at their limit. Bravo got there just in time.

"Get ready for the fireworks." Jason said. "Bravo One out."

As soon as Jason gave the green light, Ray and Trent started shooting from up the hill, clearing a way for the rest of Bravo Team to get in and make a clean sweep.

First Trent obliterated the sentinel. The man went down without making any sound.

Then was Ray's turn to jump in the action, and his first target collapsed.  
The soldier next to him had barely the time to acknowledge what was going on that Ray shoot him right in the head, before he could alert the others.

At that point, Jason, Brock, and Blackburn advanced toward the enemy's line, and the gunfight started for real.

Hearing the unfortunately familiar sounds, Alfa Team got out from the mine, finding Bravo covering for their run. But as soon as Jason saw them coming out with an injured member by their side, he froze. Suddenly he saw Nate's bleeding corpse right in front of him.  
He watched two Alfas dragging their barely conscious friend, and he paralyzed, seeing the kid's face in his.  
Clay's voice sounded in his ears, _"It's not bad as it looks, Boss. I've been worse."  
_ 'I need to get him out of here...' he thought, confused.

"Jace!" Blackburn's voice sounded loud and clear, but it didn't overcome the ringing in Jason's hears.  
He only awakened when blood splashes covered his face.

The commander rushed toward him, looking up the hill, towards their teammates.  
"What the hell Jason!"

"I'm good, let's go," he only said, quickly moving, and knowing that if it wasn't for Ray, he would surely be dead.

...

"Damn Spenser!" Sonny was randomly walking along the corridor.  
"He always have to make things complicated."

Davis looked at him, smiling, knowing he was only attempting to cover his real feelings.

"Jason is gonna kill me if something happens to him." He tried to hide the fact that he was the one concerned for Clay's conditions.

"Clam down Sonny." She faced him.  
"First, there's nothing more we can do for him right now, we have to trust the doctors."

"Yeah..." he sighed.

"Second, we're not telling the team," she noticed his puzzled look. "At least not till their mission his over. We can't risk to compromise them."

"Right..." he was far from being persuaded.

The nurse stepped out, with a blood and a urine sample in her hands.  
"I'm going to test these," she said, seeing their anxious expressions. "I'll be back as soon as the results are ready."

"Wait!" Davis stopped her. "Can you please tell us what's going on?"

"I suspect is going toward kidney failure."

"What?" Sonny stepped in. "How's that possible?"

"He was weakened by the infection he got before, and the amount of drugs we had to give him made things worse."

"So? What now?" Shock was stamped on their faces.

"We have to stop giving him fluids, and suspend all the MEDs, at least till we figure out what's going on.  
"And that includes antibiotics, sedatives, and even the painkillers."

"Wha...?" Sonny's temper was fading from his control.  
"We can't just wait here, watching him suffer!"

"I'm afraid you have to, but it's not gonna take long, at least if you let me take these samples to the lab." The nurse said, making her way to her destination.

Davis and Sonny get back in Clay's room, finding the kid hardly breathing, with an oxygen mask on.

"Hey, hang on buddy," Davis promptly approached him.  
"It's all gonna be ok." she tried to reassure him.

Clay tried to take the mask off, to say something, but his muscles were almost paralyzed.  
"I'm good..." he barely managed to say, trying hard to act strong.

Sonny watched the scene, clenching his fists,  
"Jace had to know this," he rushed out the room.

"Wait...don't...go..." Clay unsuccessfully tried to stop him.

"It's ok! Relax. He will be back soon." Davis continued reassuring him, knowing that staying there watching his teammate suffer like that was too much for Sonny.

...

"You received a call," a soldier at Alfa's headquarters Blocked Jason as soon as Bravo Team got in. "You should contact back your man in Liberia."

"Thanks," He replied, concerned, and quickly took the phone in his hands.

"Hayes!" Blackburn approached him, followed by Ray, "We need to talk about what happened out there."

"Not now, I have to make this call." He avoided making eye contact with them.

Outside the hospital, Sonny was aimlessly walking, playing the talk in his head dozens of times, when the phone rang.

"Sonny?" Jason put him on speaker.

'Hey Boss, mission accomplished?' He still didn't know how to address the subject.

"Did you have any doubt?" Jason felt his other teammates' grave looks on him, as he ignored his black out.  
"You called for this or something happened with the kid?"

'Yeah, Boss...' Sonny cleared his throat. 'We have a problem here. He developed some complications.'

"What do you mean? What kind of complications?" Trent stepped in.

'His organs are not working well.' He paused.  
'Liquids and toxins are accumulating in his body. He is suffering, and they are doing nothing!' He lost control.

They all looked at each other shocked.

'Ok, maybe I shouldn't tell them like this...' Sonny second-thought, taking a deep breath.

"I'll be there as soon as I can, keep me posted." Jason immediately said, hanging up the phone.

"Jace, we're going home, we can't go back there." Blackburn objected.

"I don't care! You go home, I'm not leaving the kid, even if I have to get there by foot."

The commander exhaled, discouraged.  
"Ok, I'll arrange something for you." He shook his head. "But only for you, the rest of us need to go home with Alfa."

The others tried to protest.

"Enough!" they immediately acknowledged that Blackburn was unshakable.  
"I wish we could, but we can't." He exhaled making everyone clear how much he was struggling to follow this orders.

"And Jace," The commander looked straight at him. "It doesn't end here, understand?"

...

"Hey, feel better now?" Davis said in low voice, as Sonny appeared by the door.

"Yeah," he cleared his throat.  
"About before..." he got in. "I just couldn't..."

"I know," she interrupted, staring at the now unconscious Clay.

"Any news?"

She shook her head. "He finally decided to go back to sleep,  
"He has more resistance than I could imagine." She rested on her sit.

"Yeah... he does." Sonny smiled at him.  
"Why don't you go resting a bit, you look exhausted,"

"I'm fine."

"I'm not gonna run away again," he assured her. "You will be of no help for him if you collapse for overtiredness."

She shook her head, smiling, "What's wrong with you lately?"

He looked at her puzzled.

"Are you becoming a wise guy?"

"Yeah... the jungle changed me," he softly chuckled.


	10. 10 Here with you

_Clay found himself fully immersed in the water. He needed to swim to reach the weak light he was seeing in the distance, but his body didn't obey his will._

 _He started to feel the pressure of the water on his chest, as he slowly sank in the deep. At that point he knew he couldn't hold his breath much longer._

 _He squirmed, fighting the currents, but he couldn't stop sinking. All those efforts made him lose his concentration, and he exhaled, emptying is lungs, and starting to swallow the water._

 _He saw his teammates waiting for him above the water level, trying to encourage him, and he found the strengths to make a last effort to reach them._

Clay gasped for air, abruptly awakening from his restless sleep.

"Calm down kid." Sonny jumped instantaneously on his feet.  
"I'm here. What's wrong?" He approached, noticing that his friend was all sweat, and visibly shaking, disoriented.

"Can't...breathe..." he gritted his teeth, trying to not let the pain overload him.

"Hey, hey, it's ok! I'm right here." Sonny watched Clay curling up as his abdominal muscles unintentionally contracted.

"C'mon, kid, talk to me! What can I do?"

"I'm ok..." Clay tired to stretch. He was heavily panting, despite the oxygen mask was well placed on his face.

Sonny stepped up to eventually help him, only to remember he couldn't move his dislocated arm.  
"Let me call someone." He attempted to reach the call button.

"No...need..." Clay stopped him, moving his teammate's arm away.  
"I'm ok..." he removed the oxygen mask, as the nausea stroke him again.

"Woo... I'm not sure you should do that."

Clay barely reached the bowl, and spit some bile in it.

"Ok, maybe you should," Sonny said, making a step away from him.  
"You sure you don't want any help?" he looked at the door, hoping someone would magically appear.

"Yeah..." Clay whispered, leaning back.  
"Nothing...I can't...handle..."

"Of course," Sonny smiled.  
"Besides, if you passed advanced SERE, you could also successfully go through this, right?" he tried to convince himself.

"Yeah... you got a point there..." Clay heavily abandoned his head on the pillow, closing his eyes.

Sonny stared at him, waiting for him to explain.

"This is exactly like SERE was..."

"Are you kidding me now?" Sonny was more and more puzzled.  
"Things must have changed a lot since I was there."

"Um, no..." Clay coughed,  
"Thi-this sensation...o-of slowly...drowning I-I have... for the..." he coughed again.  
"Liquid...in m-my lungs..." he stopped talking, breathless.

"...feels like..."

"Water boarding, uh?" Sonny finished his sentence.

"Constantly." Clay whispered, exhausted.

'Man! Is he really feeling that bad?' Sonny thought, heartbroken.

"My muscles d-don't obey, I-I can barely...m-mo-move, and... and..." He stopped speaking, at a loss.

"Ok, I got you! Just rest now." Sonny said, helpless, putting his hand on Clay's chest.

"But it-it's wo-worse... worse than ba-back then.  
"This time... it-it comes from the inside... I-I don't... don't really know, if...if it's gonna end...well..."

"Hey, look at me!" Sonny waited till the kid faced him eye to eye.  
"You can do this, and you are not alone with it." Sonny saw a tear escaping from Clay's eye.  
"I'm with you, alright? And so is Davis, and all our brothers out there," he took a deep breath, "The fact that they can't be physically here doesn't mean they are not with you."

Clay closed his eyes, overwhelmed by pain, exhaustion, and gratitude. He was totally feeling all his friend's love and support.  
He wanted so badly to give something back, to show how much he needed those words, but he couldn't 'cause his voice wouldn't come out.  
He concentrated, and placed his hand on Sonny's, which was still rested on his chest, trying to squeeze it.

They were both trying not to cry in front of each other.

"Alright, I'm done with this sentimental craps..." Sonny cleared his voice, turning the other way for a little moment.  
"You need to rest now," he stated, sniffling.

...

Sonny couldn't sat still, and was constantly looking at Clay.  
'Should I call for help?' he wondered, hearing the kid painfully winding, with the skin ghost-white, and muscular spasm continuously interrupting his rest.

"How is my favorite patient feeling?" A nurse got in, keeping Sonny to make a decision.

Clay couldn't properly reply, heavily panting.

"Liquids and toxic substances are accumulating in your body," the nurse softly caressed him. "But we will fix it soon," she reassured him.

"How?" Sonny asked, as Clay couldn't speak for himself.

"Dialysis," she firmly said. "That's how we're gonna clean out your blood." She looked directly at her patient.  
"But we have only two machines here, and they are already in use right now.  
"We're gonna have one available in just a couple hours."

"Only two in the whole hospital? What the..." Sonny pointed out, annoyed.

"We're doing our best," the nurse stopped him.  
"Don't worry, your friend is gonna be ok very soon," she defended herself.

"Ok, did you hear that, kid? Hold on just a little bit more." Sonny turned to Clay, trying to regain his cool.

"If you please step back now," the nurse turned to Sonny, "I was here to check on his wound, and change the dressings."

Sonny nodded, and sat back on the chair in the corner of the room, refusing to get out.

He carefully observed the nurse doing her job, trying unsuccessfully to spy on the wound to see for himself how bad it was.

He crossed the look with Clay, as the nurse was disinfecting his side.  
Clay grinned, as it started to burn like hell.

'It's ok, hang on.' Sonny thought, watching straight at him to show him his support.

'C'mon, don't whine, don't blink...' Clay thought, trying to hide his pain from his friend.  
'Be strong!'

"Hold on, I'm almost there," the nurse interrupted the silence.

"You're stronger than anyone was expecting, pretty boy." Sonny jumped in, to give him some strength.

"Here you go," the nurse said, collecting her tools. "All clean, and packed.  
"I'll be back soon with the machine." She said, leaving.

"You know what, kid?" Sonny turned to the door, inspecting the nurse's body as she got out.  
"I don't think you should tell Stella that a beauty like that put her hands on you." He turned back to Clay, only to find him already soundly asleep.

"Umpf." Sonny smiled.  
"That's good, you need to rest." He whispered.

...

Clay opened his eyes, and found Sonny resting on the chair, with his foot on his bed.  
He smiled, taking his oxygen mask off, then started looking around.  
He saw Davis watching out, distractedly drinking from her water bottle.

"Can I...have a sip of that, please?" he asked with a thread of voice.

"Hey there." She approached.  
"I'm afraid I can't..."

"We received clear orders to not feed the animals." Sonny stepped in, sitting in a more appropriate position.

"You can't assume any liquids," Davis explained. "But you can have a couple of these," she took a glass with ice cubes, and put one against his lips.

As the cold little thing got in contact with him, Clay immediately felt relieved, and slightly opened his mouth to get the ice in.

"Let it melt slowly in your mouth." She said, letting the ice cube go.

"How romantic!" Sonny interrupted her. "Do you need a little privacy here?"

Davis badly looked at him.

"What?" he said in a low voice, shrugging.

"Um... How are the others?" Clay asked, changing the subject.

"I talked to them on the phone a while ago," Sonny replied. "They're good,"

"On the... on the phone?"

"Alfa Team's good too," he continued, trying to ignore the kid's confusion. "They must be heading home right now, well except for Jason, he is coming back here."

"Back...here? And why Alfa would not be good?" Clay's perplexed look made the other two soldiers feel the chill on their back.  
"Wh-when they...they left?" His heartbeat raised, as he tried to remember.

"We received a distress call from Alfa," Davis glanced at Sonny, looking for reassurance.

"You don't remember that?" Sonny's tone was full of concern, and Clay's lost expression surely didn't help calming him down.

"Bravo Team had to go to the rescue, you knew that, you even convinced Jason to go."

"Yeah... o-of course..." Clay tried to hide his confusion. "I-I was... just distracted."

"Hey, look at me." Sonny got closer to the bed, facing him.

"I remember now..." Clay focused, and made up his mind.  
"Ghana. They went to Ghana."

Davis sighed in relief.  
"Wait, you said Jason is coming back here?" she asked Sonny.  
"Did he deserted or something?"

"Didn't I tell you?" Sonny replied distantly, he couldn't stop staring at the kid, suspecting that something was seriously going off.

"No." She looked severely at him.

Clay looked alternately to his friends, in the hopeless attempt to follow their conversation.

"He convinced Blackburn to give him a couple more days, he is on a bus now."

"A bus?" Davis pointed out, not knowing if she should laugh or be worried.

"There's really no need for him to be here..." Clay said.

"You know, he won't leave you."

"I appreciate that, really... It's just..." Clay took a deep breath, or at least he tried to.  
"I don't want my boss to see me like this..."

"Yeah, too late for that, kid. We all see you in even worse condition than this." Sonny smiled, reassuring him.

...

Clay's energies were dissipating fast, and at this point he was no longer able to stay awake for more than ten minutes at a time.

Sonny never stopped looking after him, while wandering around the room, and driving Davis mad.

"Hey, hey stop, please." She said, exasperated.  
"Why don't you go take some fresh air?"

"I'm cool." Sonny didn't even look at her.

"Ok," she blocked him.  
"Let's try this way, I could use some coffee, can you bring it to me, please?"

"Go get it yourself," he rudely replied. "I'm not leaving him."

"Hey, listen up," she directly faced him, "He's resting now, there's nothing you can do for him."

He sighed, looking at Clay.

"And behaving like this, you are not helping him, nor me." She tried to convince him.  
"Geez, you're really making me nervous."

She let him go.  
"You need to cool off, listen to me."

"Yeah, alright..." he stood for a while by the door before finding the strengths to go out.  
He was halfway to the vending machine, when his phone rang.

"Hey, Boss," he answered, getting out of the hospital to find a better signal.  
"How's the trip?" he asked, half teasing him, and half genuinely concerned for him.

'At a standing right now,' Jason voice sounded through some noise interference. "I still have like ten hours to go..."

"Who the hell found you that ride?"

'How's Clay?' Jason completely ignored him.

"Don't you have a backup question?"

'Hey! Talk to me!' his voice grew more severe.

"He's holding on, you know him..." Sonny exhaled. "But he is really going through hell here."

'What 'bout you?'

"Holding on too, but..."

'Yeah, I know...' Jason sighed, 'take care of him till I'm there ok?'

...

A couple of minutes after Sonny left the room Clay started talking in his sleep, and Davis approached him, trying in vain to understand what he was saying.

"Don't you dare get lost again, Clay!  
"Hey, " she grabbed him by the shoulder, gently shaking him. "Can you hear me?  
"C'mon..."

"D-Davis? Did I do something wrong?" he sounded like a three years old trying to understand why his mother was reproaching him.

"No," she smiled, clenching her heart. "Sorry I had to wake you, but...  
"I just needed to make sure you were still with me." She was fighting hard to not cry in front of him.

"Where could I possibly go?"

She sat back, slightly laughing, and letting a single one little tear descend on her cheek.

'Oh, no, please, don't do that...' Clay's heart clenched, knowing that she was suffering because of him.  
"You really don't need to worry like that..."

"Of course I do! We're friends."

He gasped, winching.

"Wh..." She started to get up again, but he stopped her.

"It's just... a cramp..." he tried to stretch, out of breath. "It will pass soon... don't... don't worry..."

...

Sonny approached Clay's room, and sneaked his head in, finding Davis holding Clay's leg lifted, with a hand on his thigh, massaging it.

"Am I interrupting something?" Sonny said, drawing Clay's and Davis attention.

As soon as they looked at him, he took a photo with his smart phone.

"I can leave you alone now, if you want to," Sonny chuckled, putting his phone away.

"I'm just helping him stretching." Davis threw him a very bad look. "He has cramp."

"Aw...never felt cramp this strong..." Clay felt he needed to find an excuse for not being able to deal with it on his own.

"Don't do that," Davis noticed he was holding his breath, "Inhale, and exhale. Come on."  
She put a little more energy in stretching his leg, hoping the cramp would past faster.

"Agh..." he slightly moved in search of some relief, despite Davis was firmly holding him.

"If I were you, I wouldn't move so much, Blondie," Sonny glanced at Clay's naked side, well exposed to the sight.  
"The photo I just took was already compromising enough, you don't need to show more," he goofily attempted to distract the kid from what was going on in his body.

That observation made both the soldiers blush, and Davis looked away, realizing Clay was really about to show her too much.  
'Oh, man, I'm not gonna be able to look at her in the eyes again...' he thought, quickly putting the sheets back in the right position.

"But you know, I'm not gonna say anything, if you just make me some little favors. Do we have a deal?" Sonny continued, attempting to fix the tensed atmosphere, he himself created.

"We don't negotiate with terrorists," Clay took his control back.  
"Uh, I-I think you can let go now..." he turned to Davis,  
"Thanks." he whispered.

She gently put his leg down on the bed.  
"You sure you ok?"

"Uh-um." Clay nodded, not looking at her, and immediately putting the sheets back on.

...

A doctors and a nurse entered Clay's room, with a cart full of bottles and tubes.

"Hey Doc," Sonny greeted him. "That doesn't seem a dialysis machine, is it?"

"Good catch, it's not." he shook his head. "We had a little setback, we have to postpone that treatment."

"What?" Sonny glanced at Clay, he was heavily breathing, and his lips were starting turning blue.  
"Are you kidding, right?" Davis held him back from getting too close to the doctor.

"Look, this is a third-world hospital, what did you expect?"

"What does those thing do, anyway." Clay laboriously pointed at the instruments the doctor took in with him, changing the subject.

"I'll use them to dry your lungs," he said, putting a pair of rubber gloves on.  
"I was hoping to do this procedure after the dialysis, when we could use the proper dose of anesthetic, but I'm afraid your oxygen levels are too low to wait any further."

"Wait, what does that mean?" Sonny looked the doctor taking a big needle in his hands. "What are you doing?"

"It is simple, I'm inserting this needle in his chest, and use this vacuum system to draw the extra fluids," he pointed at the bottles on the cart. Then he turned to Davis. "Would you help him in a sitting position, please?"

She nodded, and took Clay's arm to help him lift.  
Sonny jumped in, moving his friend's legs out of the bed, as the doctor made his patient lean his weight on the little movable table.

"Try to relax, and stay still. This is not gonna be pleasant." The doctor turned to his patient. "You are gonna feel a sting, and the sensation of pressure on your chest will increase."

The nurse disinfected the injection site.  
"Are you ready?"

"Let's...do...this..." Clay hardly managed to say.

The doctor cautiously inserted the needle in his back, right above the nine rib, with Clay forcing himself to not move.

Davis took his cold, sweaty hand, as he unwillingly, and painfully let the doctor do his job.  
He grinned, concentrating in squeezing her hand to not think about the sting he was feeling.

"Hold on, it's gonna take up to 15 minutes." The nurse tried to reassure him.

"It's ok, we're here, we won't leave you." Davis tenderly said, as Clay started to look around visibly disoriented.

As the treatment went on, Clay started to feel more and more dizzy, with his head growing lighter and lighter.

"Hey, no, no, no..." Davis noticed Clay closed his eyes, and she sustained him as the strengths abandoned his body.

"Don't make him fell," the nurse jumped in to make sure their patient didn't collapse.  
"We can't risk the needle to move and puncture his lungs."

"Alright, Clay," Davis sat on the bed, by her friend's side. "Lean on me," she said firmly keeping her hand on his back.  
She looked at Sonny, heartbroken, seeing her face in his.

"We're here for you."


	11. 11 New threat

Jason finally got off the bus. He was all sweat, and his back was hurting for the uncomfortable position he had to keep for all those hours.  
In normal conditions he would have died to have a shower and a good sleep, but those were not normal conditions, and as soon as he was in the sight of the hospital, he rushed to Clay's room.

The doctor was still inside fumbling with tubes and other tools.

Jason gasped, and stood by the door, paralyzed.

"His conditions are worsening, Boss." Sonny came out of nowhere, startling him.

"What the hell has happened?" He said as his teammate made him a sign to take a few steps out of the room, to let the doctor finish his job.  
"Last time I saw him he was recovering well, and now..."

"His body is turning against him." Sonny glanced inside the room. "He had a bad infection that temporarily compromised his kidneys."

"What does that mean?" his concern was growing.

"It means that he is going through real hell right now, but with the right care he will be back on the job in a few weeks."

"..." Jason exhale. "Is he even conscious?"

"Yeah, now and then." Sonny sighed. "But sometimes I wish he wasn't... I mean, those treatments are not the most comfortable, but he holds on, like a real frogman."

"And you?"

"I am a real frogman too!" Sonny tried to hide his true feelings.

"C'mon, that's not what I meant." Jason looked him straight.

"Yeah, I know."

They both glanced inside the room, where the doctor was extracting the needle from Clay's chest.  
He was just leaning there, powerless. He was looking so lost, and at the complete mercy of his caretakers.  
Davis was right there, beside him. She was holding a bowl for him, in case he needed it, because she knew he was feeling dizzy. And of course he needed it.

"You see?" Sonny pointed at her. She cleaned Clay's mouth, and helped him laying down, so the nurse could put back on him the oxygen mask.

"She is caring, sweet, and helpful," he continued, watching Davis adjust the pillows to make her friend more comfortable.  
"And me? I can't help him. I'm useless." he looked down at his still blocked arm.

"Hey, don't say that. I'm sure he appreciates your company."  
They looked at each other.  
"Yeah, I know, it sounded more believable in my mind," he chuckled, putting a hand on his healthy shoulder.

"Of course." Sonny said, distracted by the doctor getting out of the room.

"How is he?" Jason asked him.

"His lungs are clean for now, and I hope his oxygen levels will increase very soon."

"What about the dialysis machine? Is it available now?" Sonny eagerly stepped in.

"Dialysis?" Jason was confused, he didn't know the kid was at that point.

"Soon, very soon." The doctor said, walking away.

...

"Ready to get in?" Sonny asked to his boss.

Jason nodded, taking a deep breath, then stepped in, and went straight to greet the pale and shaky Clay.  
The kid replied with something they couldn't clearly understand due to the oxygen mask blocking his weak voice.

"Shh," Jason sat on the edge of his bed.  
"Just breath now," he took his hand, exactly like he did when he 'liberated' him from the camp in the advanced SERE training, but this time the kid couldn't shake it back.  
He was completely exhausted, and his last strengths quickly abandoned him, sending him into the dream world.

Davis sat down, beaten up. Closing her eyes for a good moment.

"You should go resting a bit, I'm here now." Jason suggested her.

"Sorry to disappoint you Jace, but you don't seem any better than me" Davis replied. "And it also seems you really need some food and a very long shower."

"It was a 20 hour ride. by bus. It was a real nightmare, I give you that.  
"But I came for him." Jason couldn't take his eyes away from the kid.

"I don't think a shower would be that bad, Boss." Sonny intervened, "The kid has already enough trouble breathing, and you really stink!"

"Yeah, ok. I'm on it." He chuckled. "But I'll be back in a blink."

He and Davis both left the room, leaving Sonny alone, staring at the soundly asleep Clay.

'We really need to take you home pretty boy.'

...

The doctor finally got back with a nurse bringing the dialysis machine with them.  
They approached, finding that the two men in the room have exchanged their roles: the patient was quietly staring at his sleeping guardian.

"Hey doc, is that for me?" Clay voice was so weak that barely reached the doctor's ears.

"About time!" Sonny said, rubbing his eyes.  
"Is this gonna be painful?"  
'Please, let it not be painful," he thought, preparing himself to support his teammate.  
'Lord, I wish I could take his place!'

"Not if we succeed in taking the vain at the first try," the nurse tried to keep their spirit high.  
"Relax, and stay still, you're gonna feel just a little sting." She turned to Clay, disinfecting the spot on his arm where they were going to insert the tubes.

Clay had to close his eyes as the doctor inserted the two needles in his arm. As the nurse turned the machine on, he reopened them, and his head started to spin at the sight of his blood starting to flow in the tubes.

Jason entered the room, walking like a ghost, at the exact moment when the first drop of blood reached the machine, and he immediately started feeling the chills.

"You back..." Clay said, drawing the nurse's and Sonny's attention to the door, while the doctor was still checking on him, and making the dialysis machine working right.

"Of course I am, you two are so lost without me, admit that." He grinned.

"Alright," the doctor interrupted their reunion. "I'll be back about four hours from now, to disconnect the machine."

Clay's eyes popped wide opened at the news.

"He had to be connected to this thing for four hours?" Sonny asked in his usual frustrated tone.

"And don't make him fall asleep, if he passes out, probably something is going wrong, and you have to immediately call for help."

The two soldiers looked at each other worried.

"You will probably feel really dizzy in the process," the nurse kindly said.  
"But hold on, it will pass soon, alright?" She smiled at him.  
"Push the call button at any moment if you need me, ok?" She said before getting out.

Jason waited for the caretakers to get out, then sat on the chair near Sonny.

"Hey, um," Clay turned to Sonny, who was visibly uncomfortable in that situation.  
"I know how much you hate waiting..."

"Yep, so what? We are all in the same boat here."

"Look, if-if you wanna go out, stretching your legs, that's really not a problem for me..."

"Yeah," Jason confirmed. "I got him."

"Alright... if you insist." Sonny got up, and went toward the door, but at that moment Davis rushed in, preventing him to exit the room.

"We have a big problem guys!" she said, almost out of breath.

The three soldiers looked at her.  
Their concern grew even more as they acknowledged she had a couple of guns in her hands.

"Wha...what..." Clay was completely lost.

"There are several disorders in town, some crazy political protest is going on." Davis explained, getting in.

"How much do we have to worry?" Jason asked her.

"Don't know." She said, putting a gun in his hand.  
"I only heard some voices for now, I'm waiting for some clear reports from DEVGRU."

"Sorry," she turned to Sonny, "Just found this two." She put the other gun in her belt.

"Ok," Jason sighed, "Sit tight, just focus on the kid getting better for now."

...

"Oh-oh," Davis said, drawing Jason and Sonny's attention.

"What now?" Jason started to worry.

"I know that face," she pointed at Clay. "He's gonna need the bowl."

Clay couldn't lift or even turn to grab it, because his head was badly spinning. His cheeks inflated as his mouth filled with stomach acids.

Jason promptly got to him, helping him in a more lifted position, preventing him from suffocating.  
He placed the bowl under his mouth just in time, as the kid couldn't hold it anymore.

'Oh boy, not again!' Sonny thought, watching the scene.

"Easy there." Jason put his hand on the kid's back.

Clay was hardly trying to control his gag reflex.

"C'mon, kid, don't try to swallow back! That's no use, let it go!"

As Jason said that, Clay opened his mouth again, letting more liquids fell into the bowl.

'Tell me they are not all staring at me,' he thought, opening his eyes. 'Yep, they are...' he closed them back, mortified.

"You done?" Jason asked, seeing the kid resting his head on the pillow.

"Uh-um." he nodded.

"You sure?"

Jason took the bowl from his trembling hands, as he nodded again, and went straight to empty it in the sink.  
With the corner of the eye, he saw Davis sneaking out to answer the satellite phone.

"I'm-I'm sorry..." Clay said as soon as he felt he could safely open his mouth again.

"It's ok, the nurse said you could feel worse."

"You really don't need to see me like this..."

"Well, we have no choice," Davis came back in.  
"Just got a heads up. We can't go out, the disorders are escalating fast."

"We know what this is about?" Jason asked.

"Yeah, there's some sort of political rally in town. Anti democratic groups are rebelling to them."

"Of course they are!" Sonny stepped in.

"It appears our embassy is working on evacuating American tourists."

"It's that bad?" Jason expression gave away all his concern.

"The general thinks we should go too."

"You should... I will manage it..." Clay stepped in.

"No way, kid!" the two seals said in unison.

"Not until you can come with us," Davis continued. "That's what I already told them."

...

"Hey," Jason carefully shacked Clay's shoulder, "You remember what the doctor said? No naps during the treatment."

"I was just resting my eyes..." he mumbled, feeling his head light, and his throat sore.

"Yeah, of course." Jason smiled at him,  
"But if there's something wrong, you need to tell us, understand?" he looked him straight.

"That's an order?" Clay tried to keep the atmosphere up.

All of a sudden they heard the echo of an explosion.

"Woo," Sonny startled. "That was really close!"

The lights and all the monitors flashed, as another blow sounded in the air.  
Suddenly the monitor connected to Clay's heart stopped beeping, and all the lights went down.

"Wh-what?" Clay asked, staring at the tubes, still full of his blood.

"They must have took the electrical system down." Jason eagerly pointed out, not knowing what to do with the machines connected to his teammate's body.

Davis and Sonny looked at each other, alarmed.

"Hey, you ok?" The nurse rushed in, to check on the battery of the dialysis machine.

"What's going on?" Sonny immediately asked her.

"That's not good," she started trafficking with the machine, ignoring the soldier.  
"Here," she took Jason's hand, and put it on a small handle at the side of the machine.  
"I don't think the power will be restored any soon. You have to keep turning this, or the machine will stop, and the blood in it will start to coagulate." She let her grab go, and looked straight at him. "You understand?"

"Yes," he said, starting to turn the handle.

"Look, almost two liters of your friend's blood are still in there, you can't stop for any reason."

"Can't you disconnect him?"

"No, he still has more than one hour and a half to go," she explained. "If I do it now, he won't survive."

Panic was stamped on their face.

"That not sounds a really good option to me." Clay intervened.

"I have to go check on the other patients, can I leave him with you?"

"Of course," all three of them said at the same time.

...

"Let's go, time for a change. Take a break," Sonny put his free hand on Jason's shoulder.

"You can't."

"Oh yes, I do!" he stated, getting rid of the arm brace. "I'm done with this, plus this thing requires only one good hand to keep running, right?"

"Ok, be my guest." Jason left his place to Sonny, and went toward the door, sticking his head out.

"I don't like this," Davis approached him.  
"We need to see what's happening out there," she said in a low voice.

Jason looked back at his two teammates.  
"I'll go take a quick look, you stay here," he said, taking the satellite phone from her hand.  
"Take care of each other," he sneaked out.

After about ten minutes, Jason was back with a nurse.

"Hey, we gotta move," he said, rushing in.

"I don't think you should move him..." the nurse said.

"We have no other options!" Jason remarked. "C'mon, you said you can disconnect him, do that!"

"But there's still more than 40 minutes left..." Davis jumped in.

"There's no time!" Jason cut the conversation. "Extremists are getting here, attacking all that seems good to them, and if they find Americans..."

"Moreover American's soldiers," the nurse added.

"Yeah, ok," Sonny asked, "What's the plan?"

"I have an extraction point, we got out of here, reach our ride, and go straight to the embassy."

"Stop the machine," the nurse approached Sonny.

"But you said..."

"Just for a minute, I have to reverse the functions, to pump the blood back in."

Clay stared at the nurse connecting an IV to the machine, while clamping tubes.  
"Ok, start the machine again."

"On it." Sonny nodded.

"It will take a while..."

"Can we move him while he is still attached at the thing?" Jason asked, constantly looking out.

"Technically, yes, but in this conditions... that's really a bad idea."

They all looked at her, trying to make up a solid plan.

"Just leave me here, guys." Clay interrupted them.

"Woo woo! Slow down, kid!" Jason turned to him. "You think that we have come this far, dragging your sorry ass out from the jungle and everything, just to leave you behind like this?

"You just go on... I'll reach you..."

"Yeah, and how do you plan to do that on your own, if you can't even lift from the bed without someone's hand?"

"I-I..." Clay bubbled, helpless.

"Exactly what I was thinking!" Jason started looking out again, watching the personnel evacuating everyone who could move.

"Save your strengths," Davis reassured him. "You will need them."


	12. 12 Reacting

Echo of gunshots suddenly reached the soldiers' ears.

"C'mon, we have no time." Jason said to the nurse.

"I only need a couple more minuets here." She started checking on all the tubes, then she turned to Sonny. "You can stop turning, I only have to disconnect him now."

"You heard that, Blondie?" Sonny put his hand on his friend's shoulder.  
"Ready for the run?"

"Never been more," Clay forced a smile, trying to not show his pain while the nurse took the needles out of his arm.

As soon as she successfully freed him from the dialysis machine, the nurse started disconnecting him from all the other tubes and wires he was attached to. And while Jason and Davis let her do her job, quietly looking out the door, Sonny _had_ to constantly peek at him, to help him stand as soon he was ready.

"C'mon, let's go." He sustained Clay as he moved into a sitting position, with his legs dangling from the bed.

"Easy there," the nurse cut in, stopping him. "You're been forced in bed for a very long time, you should not get up that fast."

'She is definitely right,' Clay thought as his head was spinning, and his vision blurred, but he obviously hid all that to his friends.

"I have to go now, they need me out there," the nurse said, making a last check on her patient.  
"Be careful," she turned to Sonny before getting out.

"Here," Davis noticed Clay was looking down at his bare foot. "Your clean clothes are in there." She handed him a bag.

"Thanks," he cleared his throat, fearing that he wasn't going to be able to put them on by himself.

"Ok, get ready," Jason turned to him. "I go take a quick look on the situation," he stated, sneaking his head out the door.

"I'm coming with you, Boss," Sonny reached him.

"Wait," Davis ended him her gun. "Take this."

"Keep it," he refused her offer, closing her hand on the gun with his. "You may need that."  
"To protect both." he added seeing her disappointed look.

"Ok, let's go." Jason said. "We'll be back soon," he added getting out.

Davis watched the boys going down the corridor, then, as they were out of her sight, she looked back, to see if Clay needed anything.  
She flushed, finding him having some troubles in pulling his pants up. Of course her first instinct was to jump in, and help, but she eventually turned, to not embarrass him, and started packing a bag with all she could find that could be useful as an emergency kit.  
However she _had_ to keep an eye on him, and kept glancing at him, to keep the situation under control.  
When he lifted his arm to get the gown unthreaded, he limped, losing his balance.  
"Woo!" She promptly jumped in, sustaining him.

"I'm ok...I'm ok," he bubbled, freeing from her catch.  
Then he cleared his throat.  
"Um, can you please unleash this for me?" he was goofily trying to reach his gown's drawstrings.

"Sure," she moved to his back, doing as he asked.

"Thanks," Clay pulled his t-shirt on.  
Then he tried to duck, to put his shoes on, but his head didn't give him a break, and he had to lean against the bed.  
'Oh, C'mon!' he thought, frustrated.

"I got you," Davis made him sit on the edge of the bed, and knelt by him, with his shoe in her hand.

...

Jason opened the stairway door, and started getting down, gun pointed, with Sonny cautiously following him, armed only with a scalpel he stole somewhere.

The disorders had not yet reached their floor, but downstairs nurses and doctors were coming and going, the patients who could move on their own were being helped out, while the others were hiding, praying for their lives.

Suddenly the first floor's door opened, and a nurse rushed in, trying to escape from and armed guy. She fell, and the man tried to take advantage of her.

Jason immediately shoot him, neutralizing the threat, and preventing the woman to get hurt.

"You alright?" Sonny instantly got down, and checked on the dead guy, while Jason continued pointing his gun on the door, in case they had more visitors.

"Y-yes..." her voice broken by the tears.

Sonny took the gun from the man's dead hand, securing it, and stared checking on her.

"What's the situation out there?" Jason asked, helping her standing.

"It's...chaos..." she could barely answer him.

"How many armed guys are there?" Sonny slightly opened the door, to peek on what was on the other side.

"On this floor... maybe...five? I-I don't know... there must be lot more downstairs..."

Sonny went down to the ground floor, sneaking his head out the door.  
"Boss, we can't go out from here," he said, shaking his head.

"Is there another exit?"

"Yes, emergency exit, at the other end of the building.  
"It leads directly out."

"We'll try with that then, let's go." Jason said, helping the nurse climbing the first steps. "Come with us, you'll be safe."

"Ok," she nodded, grateful.

...

Sonny got back in the room while Davis was still lacing Clay's shoes.  
"Hey Cinderella, are you ready?"

"What's the situation?" Davis asked getting up.

"Not good, we have to go now."

"I see you found a new tool," she said, pointing at the gun in Sonny's hand.  
"Everything ok?"

"Yeah, its owner doesn't need it anymore." He smirked.

Meanwhile Jason was standing by the door. He was carefully listening to the nurse as she gave him the directions to get out of the building.

"Alright, thanks. You sure you don't wanna come with us?"

"I have a job to do, and patients that need me."

"Ok, thank you for your help then." Jason said, as she got out.  
"Let's go guys."

Sonny approached Clay, who put his right arm on his teammate's left shoulder, and got up.

Jason was the first to go out, double watching left and right, like a kid trying to cross the street alone for the first time.

As their boss gave them the green light, Davis got out, gun pointed, followed by the other two soldiers.

The path to reach the back entrance was long, and with Clay barely standing it couldn't be a quick run, but they had to try.  
It was their only option.

Jason lead the way, with Davis covering their six.  
As they passed the first stairway's door a couple of bad guys broke in.  
Davis promptly turned, successfully hitting one of them, but the other started to fire back.

"Ahg..." Clay cried out as Sonny pushed him against the wall, and turned back to shoot too.

"You all good?" Jason asked, apprehensive, as the second shooter got hit in the head.  
"Davis?"

"Yeah, all good," she checked on the bad guys, stealing their guns and munitions.

"I'm sorry kid," Sonny rushed back to Clay, who was now knelt on the floor.  
"You ok?" he checked his body to see if he was been hit.

"Yeah, good..." Clay nodded, painfully climbing the wall to get up, since they had to keep moving.

When the small group finally reached the back stairway, Sonny left Clay resting against the wall for a moment. He was all sweat and out of breath like he had run a marathon instead of walk down just a hundred meters.

Jason cautiously opened the door, to control if the path was clear.  
"Good to go," he said in a low voice.

"Alright kid." Sonny grabbed him again, guiding him down. "Let's go."

Clay grasped the rail, and looked down, getting dizzy for the height.

"One step at the time," Sonny strongly sustained him.

Suddenly Clay's vision went completely black, and he missed a step, falling, and almost dragging Sonny down with him.

"Nooo!" Sonny couldn't keep the grab on his friend, who went down, death weight.

At the sound of his friend hitting the wall Jason immediately looked back.  
Fortunately there were only a couple of steps till the end of the first block of stairs, and he didn't got hit too hard.

When Clay opened his eyes, he found Sonny on top of him, gently slapping him on the face.  
"Hey, this is not the time to take a nap! Come on!"

"S-sorry..." he managed to say as Sonny got him back on his feet.

Davis promptly reached them to help. She put Clay's left arm over her shoulder, and placed her hand firmly on his right side.  
"Agh..." He growled in pain as she pressed her hand on his wound.

"Sorry...sorry I..." she apologized, trying to find a way to sustain him without hurting him.

"No..." he gritted his teeth, "It's ok...I'm fine..." He took a deep breath, "We have to move!"

They helped him down, both sustaining him, while Jason did the sentinel job.  
Clay was heavily panting, every single step cost him too much, and by the time they got to the exit, Sonny and Davis were practically dragging him death weight.

As soon as they reached the bottom of the stairway, Sonny temporarily left Clay's side, to help Jason checking the way. They slightly opened the door, sneaking out, while Davis stayed back, sustaining Clay.  
As soon as she had a little time to reflect, she noticed her hand was getting warm and humid,  
'Something's wrong here,' she thought looking down at Clay's wound.

"Guys..." she wanted to draw the other two soldiers' attention, but Clay stopped her. He didn't need to say a word, his puppy eyes said it all: 'please, don't tell them.'  
She nodded, and avoided informing the others of the situation. She knew she needed to keep him calm, to prevent the shook to kick in.

"All good," Jason made them a sign, and they got out, heading through the extraction point.

Clay's vision blurred again, and the nausea stroke him violently.  
"I can't...can't go on..." Clay was completely out of breath, his knees were trembling, and he couldn't even keep his catch on his friend's shoulder.  
"I need to stop..." Saying that out loud made him feel really ashamed, but he couldn't help, if he continued he was going to pass out on them.

"Hold on," Jason quickly looked around, and found an alley where they could hide for a few minutes.  
"This way," their boss leaded them.

Sonny helped the barely conscious Clay settle on the ground, as the others got to patrol the streets.

"You should check his side." Davis suggested.

"No, I'm ok..." Clay tried to object, holding his breath while his friend checked on his wound.

"What the..." Sonny said, looking at the wet dressings.  
"This can't be good, guys," Sonny called for help.

"Hey, no-no-no." Sonny turned back to Clay, as he was slowly drifting away. "You have to stay with us brother!" he grabbed his friend's shirt and slightly shacked him.

"Damn it!" Jason looked back at them, knowing that the kid needed to rest, but also that they had no time for it.

"I got this, go check on him." Davis said to Jason, handing him the bag with the medic kit.

Clay whined as Jason knelt by him, and lifted his shirt to expose his side.  
He did his best to not complain too much as his boss replaced the dressing.

"Man..." Jason gasped seeing the status of the wound. The skin was reddened and irritated, and sparkling yellow liquid was spilling from the cut.

"It's infected?" the kid said, gritting his teeth. "Isn't it?"

Sonny reached Davis, as he felt sick at that sight. Normally something like that wouldn't bother him so much, but that time he had to look away. He was so sick to watch his young friend suffering like that.

"Agh..." Clay had to summon up his last strengths to not pass out when his boss disinfected the wound.

"Hey," Jason finished repacking the kid's side. "You think you can walk?" he looked him straight.

"Give me... just a minute..." he said, trying to take deep breaths.

"We don't have it." Davis stepped in, seeing two armed men heading toward their position.

"Ok, C'mon," Jason put Clay back on his feet, and dragged him far down the alley.  
"Take cover," he said in low voice, as they all hided the best they could.

They held their breath as one of the men sneaked his head into the alley. They were pointing their gun toward him, but the last thing they wanted to do was drawing the attention on their position.

As the bad guys drove away, Jason moved on, to check if the way was cleared.

"You ok?" Sonny turned to Davis, knowing she was not used to all that action.

She nodded, soundly exhaling.  
"We need to go, the sun's setting."

...

"Alright, C'mon, the extraction point is not that far." Jason carefully inspected the surroundings.

"Let's go kid," Sonny offered Clay his hand, and helped him on his feet.

He growled, getting up, and Davis made a move to grab him.

"I'm good," he refused her offer, "Thanks..."  
He actually would use her help, but he strove to handle himself, knowing that it would be safer for her to put all her attention to the bad guys that could approach.

"It's ok, I got him, let's not waste time." Sonny started to move toward Jason, strongly sustaining Clay.

"C'mon, this way." Jason leaded them at their destination.

They were almost there when they crossed their path with some other armed men.

"Damn it!" They barely managed to hide, that they recognized them as Americans, and started shooting.

"Go, go, go!" Jason yelled, covering for them. "Take cover!"

Sonny made Clay kneel down behind a car, and took his gun off, shooting back.

"Let me help!" The kid desperately wanted to be useful. "Give me a gun!"

"We got this!" Davis said, "Just stay down."

'Great, now even the 'desk girl' gets more action them me...' he thought, frustrated that he couldn't do his job.  
For now he could just lay there, counting the shoots, and waiting the fight to stop.

As the gunfight went on, the first man went down, then the second, and the third.  
"Agh..." Jason took cover while the other two soldiers took care of the last two men that were approaching.

They stood there for a few seconds, assuring the way was clear.

"C'mon, let's go guys."

"Wait," Davis approached him. "Jason your arm..."

"Just a flash wound... don't worry." He reassured her. "We have to keep moving."

...

The sun had already sat when they reached their destination.

"We lost our ride." Jason sighed, seeing that no one was there.

"Damn!" Sonny yelled, discouraged.  
"What's the plan now?" He looked at Clay, he knew his friend was not going to last long in those conditions.

"Sit thigh," Jason made them a sign to take cover behind a demolished wall.  
"We'll figure out something." He took out the satellite phone.

"Hey," Clay's voice seemed to sound from hell. "You should take care of your arm first..."  
He growled as Sonny helped him sitting on the ground. "We all know that blood loss is not a good thing, right?"

"He's right, give it to me." Davis took the phone from his hand, and move a couple steps away to make the call.

Jason had no choice but settling by the kid, and let Sonny patch his arm.  
"Told you, it was just a scratch." Jason said, constantly glancing at Davis to see if everything was alright with her.

"Your turn now," Sonny moved to Clay, and tried to lift his shirt, but the kid retracted, avoiding the contact.

"I'm fine..." He held his breath.

"Don't be a baby, let me take a look." He forced him to expose the dressing, and put his hand on his side.  
"Yeah, ok, it's still holding." He said, acknowledging the wound was sufficiently dry.

"Told you..." He rested his head on the wall, closing his eyes.

"Ok, you all have to stop telling me that!" Sonny said, watching Davis approach them.

"What's the good news?" Jason changed the subject.

"None, I'm afraid." The three frogmen looked at her in discomfort.  
"The van had to go, they told me they tried, but they couldn't absolutely wait for us any longer."

"Bullsh..." Sonny was going really mad.

"No I get that," Davis interrupted him. "It had other passengers on, and the gunfight was too close." she attempted to calm him down.

"So now we are on our own?" Jason said.

"We'll have another ride tomorrow morning... we just have to pass the night."

"Yeah, easy to say," they all looked at the barely conscious Clay.  
"Stay here," Jason ordered. "I go take a look if there's some good place we can settle in."


	13. 13 Real family

The night was falling rapidly, and the small group of soldiers knew that they weren't in the safest place to hide.  
Jason had to move quick or some really bad things could happen.  
They all knew that.

Clay respiratory problems were getting more and more solid, and he was struggling to keep his eyes open.  
Davis settled a few meters from him, with her gun firmly in her hand.  
'Just in case...' She thought, nervous.

"You good?" Sonny asked her, noticing she was not only exhausted, but even a little lost.

"Yeah," she forced a smile. "It's just... not my thing, you know."

"What are you talking about? You're doing great girl!"

"You are...doing great..." Clay bubbled, without opening his eyes.

The other two chuckled, crossing their looks, acknowledging the kid was talking in his sleep.

They were trying to calm down, and recover from the adrenaline rush they had, when they heard some footsteps approaching.  
Sonny immediately took his gun, and prepared for the fight.

"Guys," Jason drew their attention. "I got something."

They both sighed in relief, and jumped to their feet.

"Abandoned building, a couple minutes from here," Jason made them a sign to move. "Let's go."

"Hey, sleeping beauty," Sonny gently slapped Clay on his cheek. "Wake up, we gotta go."

"Mmm..." He growled, "You really have to... stop doing that... it's not... a good... awakening."

Sonny chuckled helping him getting up, but as they started moving Clay limped, fatiguing to stay up.

"Come on, we can do this!" Davis sustained him on the other side, and they could finally follow Jason to the newly-found refuge.

...

They reached the small, creepy house Jason found, and settled in the best they could.

"Here," Davis brought a dusty blanket, "It's not perfect, but it's all I found," she said, spreading it on the ground.

Sonny made his beaten friend lay down on it.  
"It's ok, you can sleep now."

'Oh, thank God, I couldn't be able to do a single more step,' Clay thought touching the ground.

"Alright guys," Jason said. "I'll take the first shift, you try to relax."

"You sure?" Sonny asked, wanting to be useful.

Jason nodded, taking position. "You just rest for now."

Sonny and Davis sat down near Clay's position, leaning on the wall, and staring at him.

"He is gonna be fine," Sonny looked at his concerned friend. "He is, right?"

Davis continued staring at the kid, silent, not exactly knowing what to think.

With the night going on, the weather turned colder and colder, and that old house was full of drafts.  
The floor was so cold that they couldn't even change position to not waste the little warm spot they created for themselves.

Sonny noticed Clay was hardly shaking, and took his jacket off to give it to him.

"No...t-thanks..." He muttered, acting though. "You... need it..."

"You need it more," he put it on Clay's shivering body.  
"Besides, I can't sleep with the sound of your teeth chattering."

Clay made a goofy smile at his teammate, feeling relieved from his gesture, and quickly fell back asleep.

...

It was almost two in the morning when Clay started tossing in his sleep. He was winding, barely able to breathe.

"Hey, hey," Davis approached him, "We're here Clay, calm down."

"Let me go... my team needs me... let me..." he bubbled, uncontrollably shaking.

"You're right," Sonny approached him too, "We need you, but we need you safe, C'mon, kid let it go."

"Shh, someone's approaching," Jason cut out.  
"Keep him quite!"

"You heard that?" Sonny grabbed both Clay's arms to keep him still, but he wouldn't stop moving.

'Damn it!' Jason quickly glanced back at them, crossing Sonny's helpless look. "You need to make him silent," he quietly said, then he put all his attention on monitoring the incomers.

"Shh, it's ok, it's all good." Davis whispered at Clay's ear, softly passing her hand on his hair. "We're here, you'll be good."

Clay stopped whining, but they could still feel his body shaking under their grab.

'Oh, Come on! come on...' Sonny thought, hating to not be able to help his friend any further.

They all held they breath as the small group of hostiles passed along the house, without acknowledging their presence.

There were a couple of endless minute of complete silence, then they heard Jason soundly sighting, and relaxing in his sit.

"They're gone, all clear." Jason said, keeping looking out.  
"What's wrong with him now?" He glanced back at his teammates.

"Who knows, bad dream maybe..." Sonny quietly got up, while Davis kept taking care of the kid.

"He's freezing, his body can't keep the heat..." she was trying to worm him up caressing him.

"My turn know." Sonny sniffed, approaching Jason. "You gotta rest too, C'mon."

...

It wasn't long before the sunrise when Davis approached Sonny.  
"Come on, It's my turn now."

"I'm ok, you don't need to."

"You don't trust me for this job?" she looked at him annoyed.  
"Just because I don't usually do such things it doesn't mean I'm not able to!"

"It's not that, don't get your blood heated up." He tried to tone down the conversation, to not bother his sleeping teammates.  
"We are all tired, I was just trying to do you a favor."

"If you are tired, you should take a break, and let me do this job." She stared at him.

"Fine, it's not that either." He exhaled.  
"I can't stay there doing nothing..." He glanced at Clay. "I can't just stare at his pale skin, and listening to the sound of him winding... I can't close my eyes, knowing that when I reopen them I might not find him awake..." he bit his tongue. "I just can't, ok?"

"I know..." she put a hand on his shoulder,  
"Then you stay here with me, but you have to rest too," she stated severally.  
"I can't help transporting him if he can't walk, you will need all your strengths."

"Yeah, ok..." he nodded, leaving her his place, and sat near her, glancing now out the window, now at the kid.

...

As the sun raised Jason got up, and went straight to take a look outside.

"Alright, pack up, time to go!" he ordered, as gunfights sounded once more in the air.  
"We have to reach the new extraction point, or we're gonna lose the ride again."

"Hey, the sun's up, kid," Sonny gently shock him. "C'mon, we gotta go."  
He looked at Davis, worried as Clay was totally unresponsive, then he took a quick look at the wound.  
'Damn,' he thought as the dressing was again soaked in infected liquid.

"We have nothing left to change it again, he has to keep it like that..." Davis looked in her medical bag.

"He's barely berating." Sonny grabbed Clay's pulse to sense his heartbeat, then she put he ear next to his mouth.  
"He's gone... totally gone..." Concern filled the room, as they stared at their ghost white, motionless friend.  
"No chance he can make to exfil on his feet."

The three looked at each other, deciding what to do.

"Ok, I got him," Sonny took Clay on his shoulders, "We're not gonna miss another train."

...

The small group was headed toward their destination, when gunfire sounded near them.

"C'mon guys, we have to move faster." Jason led them, always gun pointed, and always tensed at maximum.

Davis was standing right next to Sonny as he couldn't defend himself while transporting Clay.  
Suddenly she had to start shooting at a group of hostiles that were approaching them.

"C'mon, let's go, let's go!" Jason yelled, taking cover, and shooting back at them.

Sonny saw a broken car and hid behind it. He put Clay down, immediately taking out his gun.  
He fired a couple of shots, then turned back to check on his teammate.  
He was still out of consciousness, completely motionless, and totally unresponsive.  
"C'mon, kid, stay with us. Come on!"

For a few minutes the atmosphere heated up as hell, with gunfire coming from everywhere. Then total silence filled the air.

"Jason! You good?" Ray's voice sounded in the distance.

He and Sonny looked at each other, then he sneaked his head out, finding Bravo and Alfa Teams clearing their path.

"Yes!" Sonny got up, relieved, as his friends approached them. "I knew it!"

"You thought you could keep all the fun just for you?" Trent got to them, immediately losing his smile at the sight of Clay, again poorly beaten up.

"He'll be ok, he just needs some rest." Jason reassured him.

"How did you get here?" Davis curiosity had best of her. "I thought you were going home."

"We were, I made the plane turn as soon as heard about the situation here." Blackburn said.

"C'mon, let's move, postpone the greetings, the fight is not over." Ray jumped in impatient.

"Alright, I'll take him." Trent knelt, and Sonny helped him lift their teammate's motionless body.

When they got to the plane, two corpsmen were waiting for them.

"Here," Davis handed them the medical chart she stole from the hospital, so they could take proper care of their patient.  
"He has an infected cut there," she pointed at his side, "And his kidneys... they are not properly working."

"Thanks, we got him now." The corpsmen said, making the patient lay down on a stretcher.

The rest of the soldiers quickly follow them on board, impatient to take off, and go back home.  
They all settled in their usual positions, persistently staring at Clay, and waiting for some good news from his caretakers.

...

Jason watched one of the corpsmen go toward the cockpit.  
"What's going on?" he headed to the other one.

"All good, we can go now." He said, drawing all the soldiers' attention.

"Can we take him home?" Jason looked at his injured teammate.  
Clay was still unconscious, with an oxygen mask well placed on his mouth, and an IV in his arm.  
"Can he handle such a long flight?"

"We'll keep an eye on him, but he is stable now. He will probably need another dialysis in a couple of days, but yes, there's no need to make stops right now."

"That's good," Blackburn stated, "Really good."  
"Now, take a sit, we are taking off." he tapped Jason on the shoulder.

They sat down, and an unreal silence filled the compartment. They were all emotionally and physically exhausted, thinking of home, of family, and of course keeping an eye on their injured team member.

As they could move again on the plane, all Bravo Team approached Clay's stretcher, to make sure he was really going to be ok.

"I tell you something guys," Sonny broke the silence. "What case of beer? He will own us an entire distillery."

They all laughed, realizing that Bravo Three probably wasn't kidding.

"Hey," Ray interrupted the fun, noticing Clay was blinking.  
"You're with us?" he asked, but the kid didn't answer.

"Come on kid, let us see your baby blue eyes." Sonny encouraged him.

Clay looked at them confused, his vision wasn't clear, and he felt like he was wrapped in cotton wool.  
He couldn't talk, or move, but he managed to slightly lift his hand, and grab one of his friends' arm for a little moment before his strengths abandoned him again.

"He knows you are here for him, let him rest now, guys." The corpsman reproached them. "He needs to sleep."

They had no choice but step away, but before doing that they all stared for a moment at their teammate, his skin was coloring back, and despite the mask they could clearly tell his expression was now way more relaxed.

...

Clay started to regain consciousness,  
'Wait, where am I? How did I get here?' he asked himself, extremely disoriented.

He heard familiar voices around him, and opened his eyes, moving to see where they came from.

"Hey there," Stella took his hand, with tears in her eyes. "Thank God you're awake!"

"Hey," he put his confusion aside to greet his girlfriend, and squeezed her hand. Then he looked around, inspecting the room and finding Sonny again asleep on the chair next to his bed.

"He's still here?" Clay asked.

"He refused to leave you." Stella was trying hard to not break out.

"Everyone did," Davis smiled at him, from behind Stella, and pointed at the door.

Clay felt her hand on his shoulder, then he watched her getting out of the room.

'This makes no sense... they're here, but so does Stella...' he thought as his confusion was growing.  
'Wait, did they move me into another room? This is so different...' his head was spinning, and he couldn't really focus.

"Where are we? Y-you took a flight to Africa?" He asked, trying to maintain control.

"No," she smiled at him. "You're home, bebe."

"Yeah?" he raised his eyebrows.

"Yes kid, finally we all are." Blackburn stepped in approaching his bed, with all Bravo Team following him.

"Guys?" He stared at them. "What did I miss?"

They all laughed, relieved he was feeling better.

"We came back for you," Ray explained, "We loaded you on our plane, and took you home, you're welcome by the way," he smirked.

"Yeah, I-I remember something, the plane... I had a strange dream though... you were all there, laughing at me..."

"It wasn't a dream Blondie!" Sonny jumped up from the chair. "We've been there all the time."

"Yeah, and for the laughing part, it was all Sonny's fault." Ray added, as they all, including Clay started laughing again.

Davis looked at Stella, she was overwhelmed by emotions, and she clearly didn't know where to stand among all those soldiers.

"Alright guys," Davis interrupted them. "Time to go now."

"Yes," Blackburn added, noticing Davis' glance. "We have a ton of paper to fill!"

"Aah! They can wait! We just got back together." Sonny objected.

Davis looked straight at him, and made him look toward Stella.

"Ow... yeah, of course. You have something better to do." Sonny winked at the kid.

"Thank you guys," Clay greeted them as they got out. "For everything..."

"Yeah, thanks," Stella tried to smile, "Thank you very much."

"Yeah, no problem." Sonny said, getting out as last of the group, "And, go easy on him girl, alright? We had a pretty rough week back there."

"Yeah, me too..." Stella whispered, watching them leave.

...

"Hey, come here," Clay made Stella sit on the edge of his bed, as he couldn't get up yet.  
He looked at her straight.

"Hey bebe, " he noticed her touching expression. "You don't have to worry for me, I'm fine."

"I'm not worried," She harshly said. "I was, now I'm not... now I'm just mad."

"You, you are mad?" he looked down at his condition, "A-at me?" he looked back at her.

"Look, I have no idea what you have been through, but you neither about me, ok?" She was holding his hand, and her eyes were constantly full of tears.

He sighed.  
"I'm sorry," he kissed her hand. "So, so sorry... but you know, this is my job..."

She got up and silently looked away.

"Hey," he made a move to sit up, but he was still too weak.  
"Ugh..." his whining drew Stella's attention back on him.

"Do not do this again!" she rushed toward him, preventing him to move even more.

"I won't, if you don't turn your back at me..."

"That's not what I meant," she stared at him, severely, "And you know that."

"Yeah, you know, this is not very fun, I have no intention to go through this again..."

"But you can't promise..."

"Can we just don't think about that right now?" He leaned his head on the pillow,  
"I missed you, and I need you..."

"I need you too, that's the whole point of this conversation!"

"And **I** **love you**." Clay continued, avoiding to peek up the argument all over again.

"And this is why I can't really be mad at you for long." She exhaled, caressing him.  
"Just close your eyes now, you have to rest, you earned it."

"I don't want to leave you again."

"Appreciate," she smiled at him. "But you need to do as I said!" she laid down next to him.  
"I won't move from your side, that _I_ can promise you."

* * *

.

AN: And it's over!  
Clay is finally having the proper medical cares he needs. He will necessitate a solid period of rest, but eventually he will completely recover.  
No long term consequences for anyone, at least for the physical aspect.  
The Team won't leave Clay alone in this, obviously popping up to visit him at the most inappropriate times, creating awkward moments, just as real siblings would do.  
And Stella will really enjoy having him around full time, not having to ask herself where he is, or what he is doing. At least till the doctor clears him for full duty again.

Now the family can be together again, compact and stronger as it never was before.

* * *

Thank you so much for staying with me during this journey, I appreciated every single review, and every single comment.  
See you next time!

* * *

PS: Thanks for the correction,  
Actually corpsman is an enlisted medical specialist of the US Navy. I'm pretty sure they used this therm on the show.  
Thank you all for the kind words.


End file.
